


Izuna's mistrust

by Tomic10



Series: Someone's plans [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: A lot of hugs, Angst with a Happy Ending, Be gentle, Character Death, Character Development, Developing Friendships, First part of the story would be just Tobi and Izuna friendship, Grief/Mourning, Happy resolution, Hashirama is a Bad Brother, Hashirama is a bad brother because he is oblivious, Hashirama is not a bad person, Infiltration, Itama' death, Izuna is a little shit, Kawarama' death, M/M, Madara feels, Madara is oblivious for a little bit too, Male Friendship, Missions as childs, Mostly Izuna point of view, Part of the story told in flashbacks, Protective Izuna, Senju Tobirama Needs a Hug, Spy Missions, Tajima is alive, Temporary Blind Senju Tobirama, The Death of Madara' siblings, Tobirama has a Panic attack, Tobirama is" adopted" into the Uchihas without asking him, Tobirama raises his little brothers, Touch-Starved, Uchiha Izuna Lives, Uchiha Madara Needs a Hug, Uchiha's protectiveness, Undercover Missions, Undercover as a slave, a really big and long hug, breakdown - Freeform, but not the end, first fic, first part of a series, guilty feelings, not graphic but there is description of their death, shinobi fights, undercover as a religious figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:22:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 73,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomic10/pseuds/Tomic10
Summary: Izuna never trusted the Senjus. For Madara, it always looked like an irrational fear ingrained in his brother since childhood. However, what if Izuna’s mistrust has a reason? What if Izuna hated the Senju’s because of something that he knew about them? What if the only reason he could be able to talk about peace would be for the only purpose of keeping a secret friend safe?Or the story in which destiny decides to give peace a chance in the form of Izuna and Tobirama's reluctant friendship. Destiny decided to make them meet each other in missions when they were children and, in the end, Izuna gets tired of Hashirama bullshit and decides that the Senju is his to protect.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Izuna, pre Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: Someone's plans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2007136
Comments: 199
Kudos: 921





	1. Chapter 1: Izuna's plan

**Author's Note:**

> So... Hi! This is my first fic and this idea was something I had been thinking about for a time now and I wanted to give it a shot to see if you would like it…  
> Also English is not my first language so… sorry about grammar and other kinds of mistakes  
> Hope you like it ^.^

Izuna had a plan. He really did. However, at some point, he had hoped that it had not worked. He didn’t want it to work because he didn’t know if he would live to see another day and if he died, he would not be able to accomplish the last part of his plot. He also wanted to see tomorrow and the day after and the thousand days after. He wanted to live all of those days having accomplished his little plan.

But now, there was no going back. He has already accomplished the most difficult part of the plan. He almost smiled to himself when he looked down to his chest and saw Tobirama's sword coming out.

He still didn’t know if he would die in a matter of seconds or if he would be able to tell the tale. The only way to know would be to inhale after Tobirama has taken the sword out of him. He really hoped that his lung has not been pierced.

He turned his head to be able to look at his rival. He was still kneeling on the floor where he has landed after using his Thunder God Technic. His hands were still holding the tilt of the sword he had introduced in his body from his lower back. He looked at him directly in the eyes and he could see the anger turned into horror and confusion for a split of a second.

But a split of a second was all they had before all the sounds of the battlefield came back to them. A split of a second before Madara came barreling to him with Hashirama on his heels. A split of a second for Tobirama to take his sword out of him as clean as possible. A split of a second for his rival to scull his features and get away from him.

Before he knew it Madara was catching him as he fell. When he felt his brother's arms around him he was able to breathe again aaand… his lungs were no pierced. Thanks, Amaterasu. He took a couple of more breaths trying to think how to proceed next. And even if the wound hurt like hell and he was bleeding like a pig he could still hear the bloody tree hugger asking his brother to heal him. Over his dead body.

He turned to Madara and looked at him straight in the eye. The movement made him groaned but he gritted his teeth and gather energy to be able to talk.

“Do not trust the Senjus” A sharp inhale could be heard to his left but he did not pay it any mind “Protect our loved ones. Only our family matters” His brother nodded to him.

“Keep your strength Otouto” and after that he just let himself fall to a semi-unconscious state. He had to keep his strength if he wanted to survive to be able to continue with his plan. However, he could not do a thing until they brought him home.

He was lulled to almost total unconsciousness before he sensed a little spiked of chakra in the enemy part of the battlefield. It felt like a tiny almost imperceptible jump of water. And before he let himself fall asleep he thought to himself…

“I’m sorry Tobirama”

* * *

When Izuna came back to himself he was in a lot of pain. His chest and back hurt and his vision was blurred by the loss of blood. However, he could perfectly distinguish the frantic voice of his brother and the hushed tones of the Uchiha medics. Izuna groaned as much as he could, he didn’t have time for this.

Madara turned to look at him when he heard him and hurried to his side. Izuna felt him taking his hand and he squished as much as he could… which was not much.

“Aniki” he realized that talking was going to be harder than he expected… well, it would be a surprise then. After all, he really did not have the strength or the time to explain.

“Sshh, keep your strength Otouto” Izuna smiled at that.

“Aniki” We tried to grip his brother hand a little bit stronger ”listen” he took a very deep breath and tried to look in the direction that his brother blurred figure was “Ther’s a Seal in…” he coughed a little “ blue paper… in “Cough” Chest in my room”

“Alright” Madara was listening to him… good. Otherwise, he was going to die and haunt his brother for not listening and his rival for being so good at killing.

“Bring it” Madara seem reluctant to leave him… “NOW” he tried to scream but it was just a little bit higher than a whisper. However, Madara seems to feel the urgency and bolt out of the healer's room.

Izuna didn’t need to wait long before his brother was back again with the paper and was pushing the piece of paper on his hands.

“No” Izuna was able to whisper “You” he really was going to lose consciousness soon. What good were their medics? What were they doing around him if they could not even prevent his blood from getting out of his body?

“Me?” Madara took again the paper “What am I supposed to do with this?” If Izuna could laugh he would have. His brother's knowledge of seals was truly horrible.

“Just you “he had to inhale hard when a particularly painful part of his back touch the mattress after one of the medics moved him “and me” he tried to look around to make his point.

It took a couple of seconds but Madara ordered everyone out of the room and he activated the privacy seals.

“Just you and me Otouto” Izuna breathed and gather all the strength to say what he was going to say in one go. He only had strength for one more time speaking. He really hoped that Madara listened to him.

“You are going to pour chakra in the bottom of the seal. Someone would appear and they will heal me. And only after they heal me you are allow to knocked them down. Yes?” he tried to hold onto consciousness to heard his brother answer.

“Yes” And everything went black.

* * *

Madara was very confused. Thousands of questions were flying around in his head… like… how did he get his hands in something so complex? Was this a summon medic seal? Was even that a thing? He had only known of the summon Scrolls. Why didn’t he say something sooner? Or…

Every question seemed irrelevant with the promise that his little brother would be healed. So, without hesitation, he poured chakra in the bottom of the seal, just like he thought his brother told him, and… nothing happened.

Madara started to look frantic, he did not know what to do. Did he do something wrong? Was that seal good? Was it damaged somehow?…

Suddenly a poof was heard, no smoke. All his frantic thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the appearance of someone in the room.

And right next to him was none other than the man who had impaled his little brother.

Senju Tobirama.


	2. Chapter 2: Izuna's revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobirama heals Izuna aaaand... maybe Izuna will wake up and start explaining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that was such a warm reception for the first chapter. Thanks! Here I leave you the second one. I hope you enjoy it!  
> Again, sorry about grammar and spelling mistakes

Madara was in such a shock that he was not able to react in time. His body screamed to put himself between his brother and the Ghost, to kill him right there to avenge Izuna. But his body was not moving.

The most incredible thing was that Tobirama didn’t even spare him a glance. And if Madara would have been a little bit less shocked he could have realized that Tobirama didn’t acknowledge him because he hadn’t registered his presence, which was weird for the best sensor known to date.

The albino knelt right next to his brother, on the opposite side to where Madara was and started healing him. It was then that he remembered Izunas words ‘Someone would appear and they would heal me’… And there it was… none other than Senju Tobirama kneeling before his brother, pouring healing chakra into him. It was then that he snapped.

“What the hell Senju!?” Tobirama jumped and all his concentration was lost. He looked up and Madara saw that the albino seemed startled to see him.

He frowned, looked around him, and then he seemed to realize where he was because for a couple of seconds the Uchiha was able to read surprise on his face.

“I do not have time to explain myself” and he went back to Izuna. Madara was going to start yelling but then another thing Izuna told him came back to him ‘Only after they heal me you are allowed to knocked them out’… so he let his inferno of questions and incomprehension fester inside of him until his brother was out of the woods.

The Senju took a couple of seals out of his armor and put them on Izuna before he started to heal him again. That made Madara realize that he was still in his battle armor. The Senju was even wearing Izuna’s blood. It was as if he had just teleport from the battlefield. That was weird. It has been hours since they have ended the battle. He should have had time to go back to the compound and change. So, why was he still dress like that? Unless… he had followed them here, but he hadn’t felt any chakra signature that did not belong to the Uchihas in the compound before now so, I couldn’t be that.

Also, Madara could see how there was a heavy dose of sweat on his forehead, and his arms were trembling in a way that normally happened to shinobis when they were close to chakra exhaustion.

Madara activated the Sharingan and… yes. He was right. The Senju was very close to chakra exhaustion. He was so dangerously close that for a moment Madara thought that he didn’t have any. And then he saw the albino consume something and suddenly his chakra levels grew a little bit. Hm… that was interesting.

Even if the thousands of questions where running wild with hundreds of possible answers, the biggest incognita of all was that he did not understand how his brother could have told him to not trust the Senjus, and here he was being saved by the very same person that almost kill him, a Senju at that.

So, he stayed right there watching the albino without deactivating his eyes. Tobirama worked without a pause, his chakra levels started to get dangerously low again and his breathing was getting agitated. However, the color has come back to Izuna’s face and he looked like he was just sleeping, not dying.

The chakra levels got to a point that even Madara would have got worried if it was one of his clansmen. He was not going to stop him if it was to save his brother but he could not resist the urge to at least comment on it.

And to his utter surprise, when he was going to open his mouth, Izuna’s hand moved to the albino bicep and grab it with force. Tobirama looked as startled as Madara felt with the sudden movement as he turned his head to looked at Izuna.

“I’m fine,” his brother said with a rough voice “I’m not in danger anymore” His eyes were clear and his sight looked completely focus and not watery like when he was dying from blood loss.

“If I do not reinforce the connections between the new cells your wound would reopen internally” the voice of the Senju was surprisingly calm even if he was really really close to fainting because of chakra exhaustion.” If you move the wrong way…” he continued but Izuna interrupt him.

“I won’t. I’ll stay right here without moving. But if you continue healing me you are going to kill yourself” the Senju knitted his brows but he didn’t say anything. “I’ll keep you safe. You can continue healing me in the morning” The Senju looked directly into his eyes, and nodded as he let go. He lost consciousness just like that, as if he had just press a switch, or as if he had been trying to keep himself awake so hard that letting go just knock him out. However, his brother didn’t seem to find this weird, he just took the Senju softly into his arms and moved him a little bit. After he repositioned Tobirama next to him on the futon, he turned to look at his brother.

“It seems that he knocked himself out in the end,” he said smirking at his brother. It was at that moment that Madara regained the ability to talk out of his shock, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was:

“WHAT?! What the…!! WHAT?!” Izuna just smirked more at him and reached out with his free hand to pat his brother's knee.

“I promise I have a very good explanation”

“You better have, because if not after I’ve thrown you into the koi pond I’m going to kill you myself because…. Because… WHAT IN AMATERATSU’S NAME?!” I breathed once before he continued “You’ve always told me to not trust the Senjus, that they were monsters, that they were going to stab us in the back if we let our guard down… and… and” When Madara didn’t know how to continue his rant he just started pointing to the unconscious Senju on his brother’s futon “THERE… you are trusting the worst of them!”

“Are you done Aniki?”

“NO! Do you realize how big of a hypocrite you are right now? Hashirama was asking me to heal you on the battlefield. We wouldn’t have had to get to the point where you almost died... Why? I don’t understand how could you told me not to trust the Senjus and you go and decide that putting your life in the hands of their White Demon is better”

“Ey! No name-calling under this roof. That Demon just safe my life” Izuna activated the Sharingan, but even if his body had stopped bleeding his chakra reserves were very low so he had to deactivate it. “The only thing that is pissing you is that I do not trust your Senju”

“Hashirama’s not my…” but Madara could not defend himself because Izuna interrupted him.

“It is not my fault that That tree huger is an idiot and a crappy person”

“He is not a crappy person”

“How could you say that so sure? You haven’t talked to him in years!”  
“BECAUSE YOU ASKED ME NOT TO!” Izuna tensed a little bit at his brother’s high tones, but he relaxed again when he saw the none threatening language of his body.

“And with good reason” Madara touched his furrowed brows with a finger and an exasperated puff “You knew that Senju for what? A couple of weeks? 2 months at best? I’m sure that it is enough time to know someone deeply enough to be able to know them years and years later after a war and hundreds of deaths!”

“Oh, so you know that Senju?” He said pointing to Tobirama.

“Well better than you claim to know yours, yes!”

“And care to tell me what good reason do you have to mistrust Hashirama? And open over-enthusiastic man that sometimes looks more like a lost puppy than a shinobi over The Ghost, a man rumor to not have emotions and that enjoys to kill his enemies in cold blood”

“First of all, that makes no sense at all. If he did not have emotions then he would not enjoy anything” Madara growled at him and Izuna just lift his brow “And I know your sight is as good as mine and I can see that that monster of man may act like a goof but he has the power to destroy us all. Where that came from? Is he just that special and he just had that ability? Nah, I don’t think so and you don’t either” Madara glared at him but he didn’t say anything “If he really thought that everything could be rainbows and flowers and that we could all be friends he wouldn’t have worked himself to the ground to be able to have that much power. And I don’t care that it is a Kekkei Genkai. We too have to train hard to be able to use the Sharingan to its maximum potential” Madara was getting frustrated and tired at the same time with this situation. He just wanted to think of this as a bad dream and wake up again in a world where they were just enemies and no one got out of that role.

“Where do you want to go with all of this Izuna? Why does my relationship with Hashirama have anything to do with you having his younger brother in your futon right now?”

“I just want you to realize how stupid is to claim to know a man after so long. So that when I tell you the reason Tobirama is here you would believe me.”

“You talk as if you knew the Senju for far longer than I know Hashirama” at that Izuna smiled in a way that was telling him that he was not going to like the answer.

“That is exactly what I’m telling you Aniki” at that Madara opened his eyes in surprise.

“What!? Since when?” and now that Madara had started asking the right questions Izuna smiled brightly.

“Do you remember the first time you had a screaming match with Father?” And because Izuna was a little shit and wanted to be cryptic he started the explanation with a question.

“Yeah, because he wanted to send you to a mission that you were too young to go to,” Madara said.

“But in the end, it didn’t matter because I went”

“Yeah, in the end, you went,” Madara said more to himself than to his brother.

“Well, did you ever get a chance to read the report I gave?” Madara looked at him as he had gone crazy. When he was just the heir, he did not read the reports, that was his father's responsibility unless he was told to do it. When he became the clan head, he followed the same rules his father did: He read all the reports of the missions that he gave.

“When I became clan head I wasn’t going to start reading past reports because I got bored” Izuna snorted at that.

“Well, if you had read it you would have seen that I encountered a very weird albino shinobi child that helped me finished the mission” Madara looked at his brother with surprise and then to the sleeping man beside him.

“Tobirama”

“Yeah, but at that time I did not know he was a Senju” he just shrugged his shoulders as he said that “He was just another child like me”

“But… wait… You were just 6 years old at that mission” Izuna smiled at him.

“Yeah, I’ve known Tobirama since I was 6. And that mission, Aniki, was the first one of more missions through the years”

All Madara could do was stare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point on I’m going to tell the story through flashbacks in what I think would be chronological order.  
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: Izuna's first mission I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuna is going to start telling the story of the first mission in which he met Tobirama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there. Thanks for reading this story! Here I leave you the third chapter. I hope you enjoy it!  
> Btw: because the name of Madara’s brothers is not mentioned anywhere I could remember or find I decided to take the names that UnknownRegion uses in his MadaTobi fic called The Moon is White. If you’ve never read it I highly recommended you to find it.  
> Again, sorry about grammar and spelling mistakes :)

All Madara could do was stared…

More than 10 years… his little brother has kept a secret for more than ten years and he didn’t even suspect a thing. It wasn’t as if he had a tiny feeling that his brother wasn’t telling him something but he didn’t care. No. He really really had no idea. And it hit him so hard that he almost felt it like a punch in gut.

“You’ve been friends with him for… for… for… 13 years?” He tried to said that as calm as possible but in the end all the turmoil of feelings almost didn’t let him do the math to know exactly how long ago that took place.

“Well…” He moved the head from side to side like he was thinking “you really couldn’t call it friendship… at least for the first years” Madara’s eye twitched a couple of times and Izuna chuckled a little.

“Let’s say that we were acquaintances with a cease-fire agreement because of the necessary circumstances” Madara was starting to get tired of this game in which Izuna was playing with his lack of knowledge more than telling him what he wanted to know.

“What necessary circumstances?”

“Well, the we-collaborate-or-we-both-die circumstances” All right Madara had enough.

“IZUNA!” his little brother didn’t even try to hide his smirk.

“What?”

“You start telling me right now from the very beginning the mission in which you met Senju Tobirama for the first time or you are going to sleep in the Koi pond. I don’t care you were close to dying hours ago.” Both Izuna’s hand went up in the universal signal of peace.

“All right, all right” Izuna took a deep breath. He knew his brother probably better than he knew himself and because of that he knew that he had reached the limit in which he could try to mock him. “I don’t know if you remember the reason it had to be me the one that had to go to that mission, but it was because I was the smallest active shinobi with an awaken sharingan available…”

* * *

13 YEARS AGO... 

Izuna' age: 6 years.

Madara' age: 10 years

_Izuna looked at his cousin Hikaku. They had reached the point in which they would have to separate. Hikaku was only an escort until they reached the border of the Rice Country. Once they got to that point Hikaku could not continue for fear of being discovered. He would turn around and go back home leaving Izuna to complete the mission._

_“Do you remember everything pipsqueak?” Izuna glared at him but the nervousness didn’t let him do more than just nod. “All right. There will be squats in the border of the Fire country. Find them when you are done with the mission” Izuna nodded again._

_His cousin looked at him one more time like he really didn’t want to leave him. Hikaku wasn’t that much older than him. He had been born 6 years before him. But he had developed the sharingan really young and he had already participated in some battles. In the eyes of the clan he was already an experienced shinobi. So, knowing how fast an easy mission could go wrong, he hugged Izuna really hard._

_“Come back safe, all right? Ryota-chan will cry every night if you don’t” at that Izuna smiled._

_“I’ll be so quick that Otouto won’t be able to miss me” Hikaku smiled at that before releasing him._

_“Remember, prioritize quality and survival over time, all right?” Izuna nodded again. Hikaku smiled one last time before turning around and sprinting away._

_Izuna took a couple of minutes just to breath and go again through all the information they had giving him for the mission._

_Ta no Kuni (Rice Country) was a land that recently (a couple years back) had ended what had seemed like an eternal civil war between nomadic tribes. And as an agreement for peace they had elected a Diamiyo. They looked like they were bit by bit gaining ninja clans and a prosperous economy. All in all, there was no problem with that. However, as any other stupid (in Izuna’s opinion) noble man, they were very paranoid and they were getting nervous with the increase of power the new Diamiyo was having. So, as far as they knew, all the neighbor countries had been sending spies to gather as much information as possible. So far, there had not been much luck._

_However, a couple of days ago a mission came from the Fire Diamiyo herself. It seemed that the last spy sent had being able to gather information about the estrange mechanism that the Rice Country had develop to be able to keep the in-door temperature constant the whole year. It seemed that they constructed every house with a double wall with a separation between them. That space was filled with air so it would act as an insulator. It did seem to work but the spy had realized that the space between both walls was small enough that a child could get inside._

_His father had growled that probably the Fire Diamiyo had sent a Hyuga spy, because otherwise it would have been impossible to get that information. The mission report had also alerted them that the castle of the Rice Diamiyo had chakra suppressants, which make it impossible for any adult shinobi to just use a transformation jutsu and get inside. That was why they needed a child shinobi to infiltrate the palace, which had been impossible to approach before._

_The money and the honor promised for being the first ones to be able to properly spy into the Rice Palace had made his father impossible to change his about sending Izuna. When his Aniki and Otosan had argue about him going his father had shut up Madara saying that a spy mission is not risky at all and that if he didn’t like it he would be punished. So, in the end, even if Izuna wouldn’t have wanted to go, he didn’t have a choice._

_And here he was again, in the middle of the night, a couple of hours from the capital of Ta no Kuni, ready to start moving again. The idea of being squished between two walls for a couple of days was not his description of fun, but Izuna really wanted to do this right. His sharingan had awakened a couple of months ago and he had train very hard to be able to used. This was the perfect opportunity to prove how good his sharingan memory was._

_With a new resolve he started running again in the direction of the capital. He almost run into a patrol squat, but he was able to hide in time inside of a huge tree. That happened three more times, and the last time he had to hide between the rice plantations. At that moment he really hated his life, he was wet, cover in mud and the lower leaves of the rice plants were in places he did not know he was ticklish. But trying to take advantage of the situation, like his aniki had told him, he did the rest of the journey through rice field. Hiding was simpler that way._

_When he reached the outskirts of the capital, he undressed himself and buried his Uchiha clothes in a deep and hidden part of one of the rice field. He cleaned himself in the river next to it and he got dry as he run from house to house looking for a new change of clothes that fitted him._ (Yes aniki, I run naked around the capital of the Rice country, how was I going to blend in if I was still wearing Uchiha cloths and covered in mud? … Getting extremely dirty just helped me to remember that, now shut up and let me finish).

_After a couple of houses, he was able to find one that had kids that looked as small as him and he took the cloth of one of them. After that he walked through the streets trying to map the city and evade the few patrols. When the sunrise was an hour away, he got to the door to the inner city. It seemed to be guarded but he could no feel a strong chakra in the soldiers. This led Izuna believe that they were not shinobi. Taking this into account he transforms himself into a small black mouse and he approached the door running through the shadows._

_In the end, it was so easy to go through that he was tempted to pass the door running between the leg of one of the guards, but he restrained himself. First the mission, later he could play. Because the mouse trick had work so well, he kept himself in that form while he mapped the inner city. Aniki ha told him that it was important to know the terrain and all the escape routes in case something went wrong. And that was what he was doing._

_A couple of hours later, and after grabbing a quick breakfast from the storage of a small shop, he went back to his original form and went in the direction of the Diamiyo palace. If any attempted of getting inside for more powerful ninjas had failed, he didn’t really think that he could. So, he decided that he would just try to ask nicely. He stole what looked like a typical offering and a little bit of incense in his way to the door._

_There were people going in and out of the door, but the guards were shinobi and they were inspecting every single one of them. He inhaled hard before trying to put his most innocent face. The face he usually used to be able to get away with things. And he just walked to the door like any other person that just wanted to go inside the palace._

_He got in line when he reached the door, and waited for his turn with the shinobi guard. His hands were a little sweaty, but he just tried to calm himself, to inhale again and think that everything was going to work._

_When it was his turn the shinobi looked at him up and down a couple of times before he pointed at the offering._

_“What is that?” His voice was very deep and he looked at him with a very deep frown._

_“An offering for Takehiko-dono. My okaa-san gave it to me so I could go in her place”_

_“Let me inspect it” Izuna opened his eyes before hugging it to his chest._

_“But it is for the Diamiyo, not for you” playing the oblivious kid always seemed to work._

_“If you don’t let me see it, I won’t let you pass” Izuna glared at the guard for a couple of seconds before nodding._

_“But you’ll give it back, right?” Izuna said starting to open his arms._

_“Yes” after that Izuna couldn’t keep playing with the guard and just gave him the offering. After a quick inspection they just gave it back to him._

_“Thanks” he said to himself looking down and hugging the offering again, like a petulant child._

_“What is your name kid?” Izuna looked up again with his eyes looking at the man with a childish open distrust._

_“Why do you need my name mister-shinobi?” the man only sighed and growled a little._

_“Just give it to me or you won’t pass” Izuna opened his eyes again before nodding._

_“All right” The little exchange had given him time to think of a suitable name for himself. Never tell the complete truth, and never lie. And because he was a little shit and he loved it he just said: “Orio Keiji”_

_“All right Keiji-chan you can enter. The offering altar is next to the summer garden” At that Izuna bowed and smiled._

_“Thanks shinobi-san” and he enter the Rice palace following the indications given._

_To have an opportunity to explore he got himself lost a couple of times and asked for directions every time. When he had a vague idea of the map of the palace, he went to make his offering. He really didn’t want to carry the present and the incense all day and that way he wouldn’t have lie to the guard._

_While paying his respects as the other ones in front of the altar were doing, he noticed that behind the altar was a little opening on the wall. He activated discreetly the sharingan and… yap that looked like an opening into the inner space between walls. When he finished paying his respects he walked slowly and trying to not call attention on himself, around the place. Bit by bit more people stopped paying him attention. When the had an opportunity, he hid himself in the shadows and waited patiently until the place was empty._

_This was a really hard test of will. He really wanted to move, but as long as he kept still in the shadows no one would see him. After a couple of hours, he used a moment in which there was no one around and he got inside of the space between the two walls._

_The space was very narrow, there was enough space that if he pushed his back against one of the walls, he could move a little back a forth, but both his shoulders could not be straight if he tried to turned and looked to the side. At least he had space to move his head…at least._

_He spent a couple of minutes trying to get used to his new mobility before trying to push a little bit of chakra into his feet to be able to be as silent as possible. When no chakra moved, he got a little panicked before he remembered that there were chakra suppressants in the palace. He breathed deep once before nodding to himself. All right, without chakra._

_And then he started moving. Going from room to room, making a mental map of the place. He realizes that each room had a couple of overtures to the space between walls. They were on the lowest or the highest part of the wall and normally covered-up with a piece of painted paper, colorful fabric or a very nice carved wood grill. And as he was getting into more private or inside quarters the decorations became more and more expensive._

_It wasn’t until a couple of hours later, when he started feeling hunger, that in search of the kitchen to see if he could steal something to eat, he touched a piece of wood that was warm. The feeling was faint enough that whatever had touch that part of the wood had not being overheated, but it was recent… that was the warmness that came from a human body._

_Izuna stilled at the realization. A warm body touching the inside of the wall… For Amateratsu! There was at least one more person with him in the space in between walls. He breathed a couple of times just trying to get his brain to work again. He needed to calm down and think. He had not encounter anyone so far. Maybe whoever was here wasn’t aware of his presence either. But Izuna had being there for hours, so the only logical explanation was that this person just arrived, otherwise they would have crossed paths at some point. Izuna nodded to himself, yeah. It was that. Because he didn’t want to think in the alternative: there was someone there, it was aware of his presence and they were trying to avoid him for whatever reason._

_Izuna inhale a couple of more times. All right, before he could go and spy on the Diamiyo, he needed to find this person. He could not let his guard down while he was listening to the lord if there was someone around that could stab him in the back._

_He just hoped that they were not hostile. This tiny dark space between walls was a terrible place to fight._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chan chan chaaan. Who would be out mystery person xD (I really think it is kind of obvious xD). I hope you liked the chapter.  
> Oh! Btw, the name that Izuna gave himself means (If the translator did not troll me) “Respectful second son” that is why he said that he was not really lying about his name.  
> Also, the name of the Diamiyo, which I named as Takehiko-dono, it is going to be Ohashi Takehiko which means (again,if it didn’t troll me) “Hero prince”.


	4. Chapter 4: Izuna' first mission II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuna tells the rest of the mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for your support. I did not expect even half of the feed back this story is having. So all of this is an incredible surprise ^.^  
> Here is the fourth chapter. I hope you like it

STILL 13 YEARS AGO...

Izuna's age: 6 years

Madara's age:10 years

_Izuna walked for a couple of hours trying to followed the warms paths, but he never seemed to be able to catch up with the mystery person. It got to a point in which he started going in circles and he was starting to get really hungry. So, trying to not get desperate, he decided to try to find the kitchen again. And, after he had eaten dinner, start looking for his slippery-in-between-walls companion again._

_It took him a couple of minutes of wandering but, in the end, he was able to find the kitchens. He didn’t hear any sound in the other side of the wall, so he crawled out of the space in between walls. He had to open one of the carved grills and slithered himself under the tatami until he reached its end._

_The kitchen of the palace was like any other kitchen, just bigger and fancier. The stoves and tables for meet and fish preparation where on a stone-floor part of the room that was at ground level. Also, it was in that part that the door to the courtyard, where he could hear animals, was. The other part of the kitchen, the on the tatami and with the door which led to the rest of the palace, was full of low tables where rice and vegetables where normally used, and also where the presentation of the food was made._

_Izuna looked around. It was night time. And judging by the quietness of the palace it was already pretty late. There was no one here; which in all was not such good news. As long as aniki has told him. Food was one of the most important things in the whole world. It should be guarded._

_Hm… However, it was strange that there was not food in a kitchen. He started to look around to see if there was another door that could lead him to the pantry. It took him a couple of tries but in the end, he found it in the not-tatami part of the kitchen. Also, he was able to see it because the dust on the floor make the pattern of a quarter of a circle; which was the pattern that the movement of door normally leaves._

_He opened the wood door to find himself with another one less than 50 cm away. This time the door was sliding. After opening that one he found another door, which was make of stone. However, what was more surprising was that there was water. There were again, a separation of 50 cm between doors. However, where there should have been ground there was running water. He stored that information for later and open the stone door as little as possible with as much as care as he could. That door opened like the first one but with inside direction._

_Once he was able to open that door, he could see that he had find the pantry. There were all types of food there. He also realized that inside of that room the temperature was remarkably low in comparation with the outside. Without wanting to lose time thinking about that he went to the back of the room and start eating what he could find from the end of the storage packages (that way it would take them longer to realize that food was missing)._

_Before going out he took a couple of pieces of dry meat and bread to be able to eat the next day._

_After closing the stone door behind him he looked again at the other two doors and realized that at both sides there was not a wall. There was space in between walls, like in the rest of the palace. Happy that he had found the path directly to the pantry he entered the not-water-ground space in between walls and start to follow where it led. His joy ended as soon as he reappeared at the pantry door on the other side. Resigned Izuna realized that the in-between-air walls of the pantry was a closed circuit that could not be accessed from other parts of the palace. So, he closed the rest of the doors and went back to the overture to the in-between walls that was in the kitchen._

_He tried to find one of the dead ends to trap the place and be able to close his eyes for a couple of hours._

_The next three days were like that. He explored the castle, went out at night to get food and sleep for a couple of hours at one of the dead ends. In those three days he was able to realize that the pantry was not the only room that was isolated from the rest of the in-between walls. For example: The throne room, the royal private living space, the war room and a couple of more rooms were isolated; also, each floor was isolated from each other. Which was a pain in the ass because those rooms were the ones that he needed to spy on. Because of that he had to spent to a huge part of the nights finding the quickest routes from the isolated in between walls and the rest of the castle. It was risky, because even in the night there were patrols inside of the castle._

_He also was still on the look out for his mystery companion. He sometimes found evidence that he was still there. Like finding warm wood as soon as he was able to reach the second floor. As if the bastard had got there before him. But no matter how much he tried to find him it was impossible._

_At the end of the third night he was able to overheard that the Diamiyo would return the next day from his diplomatic trip. Well that made more sense… that is why he could not find him. Because of that he decided to get himself in the isolated space in between walls of the royal living space the night before and spend there the rest of the day._

_The day pass as he expected. The Diamiyo arrived a little before supper and spent the rest of the day on his private quarters. He still met with a couple of important persons but the rest of the day he ate, slept and did a couple of things that looked more like hobbies than responsibilities. Those conversations with the person he met were recorded with the sharingan for the future report._

_What he did not expect to happened that day was to find his mystery companion. But all in all, it made sense. He must have thought like him and got himself stuck in the walls of the royal quarters, so there was not as much as space for him to hide as there was in the rest of the palace._

_It was at the end of the day, when the Lord finally went to sleep, he had find himself close to one of the dead ends and had decided to sleep for a couple of hours and wait for the early hours of the morning when there was a change of the guard, so he could get out of there and into the throne room._

_However, when he rounded the last corner, he found himself face to face with another kid. What startled him was how he looked. It was true that in that little space there was almost no light, but he could make out another kid like him wearing a long yukata that looked a little loose on him. He might have stolen his clothes like he did. His hair looked faded, as if he had dyed it some time ago, and his eyes… his eyes were red. But not sharingan red. Where his pupil should have been the red was more intense and from there the color blurred until almost white, making it looked at some point almost pink. The outline of the eye had again an intense red. It was fascinating._

_The other growled a little and it was then that Izuna realized that he had a kunai on the hand closer to him. So, a shinobi child like him. That made sense they were not the only ones trying to spy on the Diamiyo; what was estrange it was that a shinobi from another country had reached the same conclusion as them. There were no Hyugas outside the Fire Country._

_Izuna raised both of his hands in the universal symbol of peace. Really this was not a place to pick a fight. They couldn’t even move and they were one wall away from the most important person of this country. It really was not the moment or the place to start fighting._

_It took a couple of seconds but the boy lowered the kunai and nodded to him. Izuna nodded back and started to walk in the direction he had came with out taking his eyes of the other boy. When he was in the other side of the royal quarters, he trapped the place a little and tried to close his eyes. However, with the knowledge that the other boy was here with him he could not relax enough to fall sleep._

_In the end, the just waited for the right moment at the end of the night to exit the isolated walls and go back to the ones that ran through the rest of the castle. He moved fast to be able to reached the throne room without coming across any patrol or the red-eyes kid. However, the window in which that movement could be made was so small that when he was running as quiet as possible down the stairs to reach the first floor, he found the kid when he arrived at the second floor. They looked at each other for a second before they heard the sound of one of the patrols and they started running again._

_When they reached the first floor Izuna got himself inside the walls using the first overture. However, the kid kept running. Izuna did not tried to stop him, he really did not have the time nor the motivation. He moved as fast as he could to reached the closest wall to the throne room. But he had to wait almost an hour before he found an opening to get out of the wall and to run to the overture on the wall of the throne room. When he was safely inside of it, he suddenly realized that he was not alone. The red-eye kid was there and he was looking at him with a half smirk before he just turned his head and walked away. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that the boy had arrived there before him and he was mocking him. So Izuna did the only thing that he could think of. He stuck out his tongue._

_The following days followed that routine. They would spy in different places of the castle and at least one time a day Izuna would bump into the red-eye kid. However, Izuna needed to end soon his mission. He had a lot of information to report, but he still felt like he needed something more. He was starting to get itchy and his muscles were starting to scream at him like crazy. He was sure that if it weren’t for the quick trips to the kitchen for food, he would have gone already crazy. Surprisingly it was in the middle of those trips that he finally got the information he needed to go back home._ (You know aniki, this information is not important for the story, but it was about the unmarried nobles and counselors of the Diamiyo. That way they could put in their way a long-term spy as their wife).

_So, after more than 6 days living between two walls Izuna was really in need of getting out of there, to be able to walk in all directions and to feel the warmth of the sun on this skin. So, maybe it was in his little excitement that he became careless and they caught him inside the palace._

_The patrol that caught him thought that he was trying to steal something and try to bring him to the Lord. So, in his little desperation, and thinking that if he got caught the shinobi kid from another country would be able to bring information to his Diamiyo sooner than him he sold him without thinking twice._

_In the end, they both end up in a little cage glaring at each other._

_“I hate you” said for the first time the red-eye kid. Izuna stuck his tongue again._

_“I was not going to let you go away if they caught me”_

_“You could have scape, aren’t you a shinobi?” the kid whispered the last part._

_“Of course, I am” Izuna said defensibly before he could realize his mistake of giving away that information. The kid just snorted. “Well, I’ll apologize for involving a civilian in shinobi affairs. I really thought you were a shinobi too, but with how fast they got you I must have been mistaken” Izuna said as come back without losing the smirked._

_The kid jumped on him with a quiet war cry._

_“I’ll show you shinobi” the kid said_

_The small space that they had inside the cage, and the chakra suppressants made the fight looked like to young toddlers rolling around and screaming at each other than a real fight between two shinobi. The guards were alerted by the noise and they run inside to stop them. However, the kid, in the exact moment that the guard opened the small cage jumped on him._

_Izuna was startled by just one second before he realized what had happened and he got out and gave his most powerful punch to the other guard’s shin. He heard a crack and the guard felt to the ground crying out because of the pain. He turned around to looked at the other kid to see that he had nocked out the other guard but he had not gotten out of there in time and he was crushed under the weight of the grown up._

_He would come to regret this decision a couple of years later, but he went back and helped him to get up. They run out together and using the stables as shelter they were able to bypass the patrol and reached with caution one of the public areas of the castle. After that it took them just half an hour to find a good opening to exit the castle through the front doors._

_Izuna looked at the kid when they were out and smiled at him. The other kid smiled a little back. Izuna then made the transformation jutsu again an turned into the small black mouse. He heard a snort and then the sound of the transformation jutsu. When he looked back, he saw what for him in that body was a huge white cat with red eyes. He squeaked and start running as fast as he could._

_The cat chased him through all the street. He was so centered in to not becoming the new toy of the shinobi turned cat that he went through the doors of the inner city without even realizing it. He only stopped when he found a tree and hide inside of it._

_His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would get out of his chest and run away from him. It was not until he heard a laugh that he remembered that he was a shinobi and that he could have changed to his human form at any moment._

_He got out of his hiding place to find the red-eye kid laughing, probably at him. He turned back and find a stone to through it at the irritating boy. However, after he dodge it the kid looked at him._

_“That was horrible!” the kid looked at him funny. “I thought that you were going to eat me” The realization hit the boy because he opened his mouth in an “O”._

_“I was fake-chasing you!” the other said “I was not going to eat you, puag” Izuna looked at him like he was stupid._

_“Then why were you laughing?” the kid smiled and point at the city they had left behind_

_“Didn’t you see the faces of the people when they saw us?” Izuna just shook his head “They were getting out of the way, we throwed to the ground a grumpy grown up and you almost did the same with the guard” Izuna smiled at that._

_“We did?” the other kid just nodded and smiled with him._

_Then they looked at each other for a couple of seconds before nodding to each other._

_“Thanks for the help back there” said Izuna._

_“Yeah, thanks I supposed, even if it was your fault, I got caught in the first place” The kid nodded to him and turned with the clearly intention of leaving._

_“Wait, what is your name?” asked Izuna not wanting him to leave just yet._

_“Why should I tell you?” the kid said turning again._

_“I’ll give you mine” said Izuna quickly and the other kid just nodded “I’m Izuna”_

_“You can call me Tobi” and with that the kid turned around a left._

_Izuna stood there for a couple of minutes, before he went to find his original clothes so he could go back home_

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna's age: 19 years

Madara's age: 23 years

Madara was laughing at him. Like really hard.

“Ey, we were just kids” said Izuna trying to defend himself.

“He… he chased you… on cat form” was the only thing that Madara was able to said between laughs. Izuna just glared at him. He really could not do anything more. He had to remain laying and he had half of the unconscious Tobirama on him. “Oh, Amateratsu just for that I’ll let him stay”

“Go to hell aniki” Madara just smirked at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I’m going to leave it here because I think the rest of the conversation is going to turn pretty serious and I prefer to end this chapter like this.  
> Also, I want you to remember that Izuna and Tobirama are just kids in this mission and some of the bad or impulsive decisions they take are due to their inexperience. Do not think of them as the shinobi that fought on the war, but as two kids with basic shinobi training but not much practice.  
> I hoped you liked it. Next chapter will be up as soon as I can, and it would also turn a little bit serious because the brothers would talk between each other about the mission and also about things that Izuna discovered long time after that mission.


	5. Chapter 5: Izuna' saviour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are going to talk a little and Izuna is going to tell Madara about the second time he met Tobirama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks a lot of your kudos and your comments, I love to see them all  
> It has taken me a little bit more of time to write this because I did not want to cut this part in two and it is a little longer.  
> I hope you like it!

PRESENT

Izuna's age: 19 years

Madara's age: 23 years

“If I tell you the real reason why he was really chasing me you won’t laugh” Madara raised one eyebrow at that.

“Why won’t I? Did he really tried to kill you?” Izuna just shook his head at that.

“Aniki, Tobi is a True Albino” Madara furrowed his brow at that.

“And? I could see that” Izuna groaned at that.

“You really are not aware of the consequences of being and albino, are you?” Madara crossed his arms a little bit defensive at that. He really did not like to be in a disadvantage, even if it was with his brother “All right, all right. I’ll tell you. But just because I’m the best brother in the world and you wouldn’t understand a thing of this story if I don’t” Madara hit him lightly with two fingers on his forehead “Ouch”.

“Quit you blabbering and tell me already” Izuna just glared at him but he resumed to tell the rest of the story.

“It seems that albinisms occur when your body can not produce color. Not in your skin, not in your hair, etc. Well as long as Tobirama told me there are different levels of albinisms” he held his hand up and started enumerating with his fingers “first, it is just the skin, The Snow Albinos; second it is also the hair, The Fair Albinos; and the last one the eyes, The True Albinos. And in those part of the body in which there is not color they are weaker.”

“Are you telling me that this bastard burns easily and does not have a good vision? Do not make me laugh Izuna”

“Not anymore Aniki, he does not have those problems anymore. But until they were able to fix it, he was almost blind.”

“What?” Madara really wanted to call him on his bluff but he them remember one thing his father said to him when the Senju appeared for the first time on the battlefield: _“Do you see that kid there? That is cannon fodder. It is not just that he won’t be able to take a punch, but he won’t see it coming. His father really must want him dead”._ So maybe his father was referring to blindness and not awareness. Funny thing, his father had to eat his words a year later when he became one of the deadliest shinobis known. That is when they start to called him the White Demon of the Senju.

“He told me that until they fixed his vision, he could not see colors. And by the time they fixed his eyes he almost could not see, just distinguish some shadows.”

“So… he was almost blind during that mission, wasn’t he?”

“Exactly!” Izuna almost scream because at least his brother was starting to get with the program.

“How could they send him to a mission blind?” Izuna looked at him like he was trying to say “See what I’m trying to show you?”.

“He was sent because he didn’t need to see and he would stay there until they decided it was enough time to spy”

“What?” Izuna just nodded at that.

“Some of his clanmates introduced in de castle. He was supposed to wait for them to pick him up.” Madara looked at him funny “But I sold him out, soo… he had to get out of there fast. He followed me because I was the only way for him to exit the city” his brother just nodded at him before pausing.

“Wait, but if he was almost blind, how was he able to chase you?” Izuna looked at him like he was stupid.

“Because of his sensing abilities, how else?” at that Madara opened both of his eyes to look at the albino.

“He already had sensing abilities so young? Since when…?” Izuna shrugged his shoulders.

“Who knows”

“But, if he already could sense, why did he need you to get out?” Izuna snorted at that.

“He did not have the range he had today. At that time as long as I know he had enough range to be able to dodge me inside the palace. But even you know that that is not enough to exit a city safely” Madara nodded at that.

“All right, let’s say all of this is true. He left you in the forest, how was he going to go back on his own? You just told me he was being picked up” Madara still didn’t seem to believe everything.

“He didn’t go back” Madara made an interrogative noise “he did not come back on his own Aniki. He waited in the forest until they picked him up”

Madara tried to imagine the situation. A blind child around the age of Izuna at that time, alone in the woods for days… the desperation that he must have felt… Madara did not want to imagine that… and…

“How the hell did he eat those days? How did he even survive?” Izuna looked at him with the same questions that he had.

“I don’t know, ok? Tobirama is a very private person. And he is a little self-conscious of his blind years”

“Then, how do you even know the rest? I can’t imagine him telling you all this” Izuna nodded at that.

“Yeeaaahhh, no, I can’t either…,” Madara furrowed his brow at that. Izuna inhaled hard while thinking how to tell his big brother the next thing “Do you remember the last mission that you sent me to?” Madara nodded.

“Yes. It was in those mountain ranges at the Land of Earth, wasn’t it?” Izuna nodded “I remember that report, you said there were a hidden wild clan that had develop a jutsu that could get inside your dreams”

“Yap, and I also wrote down that with the mangekyou there was no way that that parlor trick worked on me” Madara nodded “but it did work on him” he pointed at Tobirama “and I had to get inside his head, to the deepest part of it, to get him out and… well… let’s say I saw things I wish I didn’t” Madara looked more serious at that “It was at that moment that I decided that he was being adopted by the clan. And now he’s mine to protect.” There was a sepulchral silence after that. Madara blinked a couple of times looking at Izuna directly into his eyes. He breathed deeply repeating those last words in his head a couple of times and he blinked again.

“Yours… to protect… “Madara seemed to being taking his time processing what Izuna just said “You… protecting… him…” he pointed to Tobirama with his index “You… HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND ALREADY??” Madara finally screamed

“SSsssshhh don’t scream aniki”

“I will scream AS MUCH AS I WANT!” Izuna’s free hand went to cover Tobirama’s free ear “WHAT DO YOU INTENT TO PROTECT HIM FROM? Because let me remind you that right now he is in the middle of the compound of a clan that despised him!” Izuna flinched at that… He might have planned how to get him inside, not the logistic of maintaining him “Besides, he is still the White Demon Izuna YOU ARE THE ONE THAT NEEDS PROTECTION!! But from him. Not the other way around!!” Izuna glared at him.

“Let’s not go back to screaming without knowing the whole situation, all right aniki?” Madara growled at him “Let me keep explaining you the rest of the story. You would understand.” Izuna end up almost pleading. Madara growled again.

“All Right” he said in between teeth “But wait here I’m going to put some suppressants on him” He said standing up “I don’t trust him” before Izuna could make him change his mind he exited the room and Izuna was left alone with his now revealed protégé.

He turned to looked at the albino and sighed. Izuna was sure that all of this drama could have been avoided if his friend had a better emotional management and he was less of an introvert. But well, he was a genius in his own right; asking more of him would be wrong. The only thing he could do was to try to protect him from destroying himself.

He heard his brother coming back and he looked at the door. Madara has brought back a couple of bracelets with suppressant seals engrave on them.

“That’s a little too much, don’t you think?” said Izuna.

“No, I do not think so” he said kneeling next to Tobirama, putting the bracelets on and sealing them with his chakra. He walked around both of them until he was again in front of his little brother and sat. “You can continue” Izuna snorted at his brother’s antics.

“Where do you want me to continue?” Madara looked like he was really thinking.

“Chronological order so I don’t mix dates” Izuna nodded at that before he yawned. Madara did not said anything at that but raised one eyebrow.

“Ler’s go to the first mission” Izuna theatrically cleared his throat “I came back home without problem because when I reached the border with the Fire Country there was an Uchiha patrol very close” Madara nodded at that “Well, I gave two reports to father, one with just the information that I had spy on and the other one with the details of the mission”

“So, he knew about the Senju…” Izuna nodded at that “And he said something about him” Izuna nodded again.

“Yes, he did. He called me a couple of days after that. He told me who he was. He said that that boy was Tobirama Senju, the second son of Butsuma Senju. He told me that the kid would not survive to adulthood so there was not need of killing him. He told me that if I ever found him again, I would extract as much information from him as I could.” Madara snorted at that.

“That sounds like father”

“Yeah, but a couple of months later he changed the orders. It was after Ryota was found murdered” Madara nodded at that.

“Every Senju dead, it did not matter if they were old, child or women” Izuna again nodded at that,

“When he gave that order I asked him if all without exception. He looked into my eyes, because he knew what I was asking and he said _“All of them”_ ”

“So, the next time you find him you tried to kill him” Izuna’s face seemed like it disagreed.

“Not exactly” Madara raised his eyebrow and waited for his brother to continue “It was almost a year and a half later. Do you remember? Just after the twins were born. Father sent me into a solo mission to retrieve the information about the supplies of the Senju” Madara nodded at that.

“Well, the first part of the mission was the easy part. However, when I had the scrolls. Let’s say that getting out and back into the compound was the hard part…”

* * *

11 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8 years.

Madara's age: 12 years

_Izuna was sure that he was going to die. He was bleeding from his left side and his vision was starting to get blurry. It has not been difficult to get inside the fisherman village to get next shipment to the Senju. There have not been any ninja patrols, and the lists has not been hidden. But., he has not taken into consideration that the lists might have some kind of alarm. As soon as he had opened the scrolled to see if it was the one he needed, he had felt a pulse of chakra and seconds later it had burned. Thanks Amateratsu that he had his sharingan active and he has been able to memorize the whole list. However, that pulsed had alert the closest patrol._

_Getting out of there has been almost impossible. When he had realized that with his chakra levels and his ninja knowledge, he was not going to get out of that fight alive he had fled. The whole way back home has become a Cat and Mouse chase. The only difference is that this time it was a giant Tiger and he was like a blind newborn mice._

_At the time he could not run back in the Uchiha compound direction so he had tried to lose them for almost a whole day. The only thing that had saved him from them had been his speed and a summoned animal that had call them back to the village._

_By the time he had found himself alone he was dead tired, he had lost enough blood to knock him out and he was not very sure where he was. He had lost track of his position at some point in his desperation to dodge them. In that situation he really wished he had been born with sensing abilities like his brother. At least that way he could have pinpoint around what he was._

_Resigned he looked around to try to find the highest place to be able to know the way home. He distinguished some mountains not very far, but he was not sure if he would make it there. Well, he had to try. It was that or just lay down and wait for death._

_He started walking towards the mountains following a small river that seemed to come from them. At some point he had to entered a forest, but he kept following the river._

_The worst thing is that he could not say at which point he lost consciousness. He knew that it started to rain after he entered the forest. And he also knew that when the rain became so heavy that went through the top of the trees, all his clothes became wet and walking became a bigger challenge. So, all in all he was able to remember all those things but he could not remember the point in which everything became too much and he just succumbed. For him it was as if he was walking and suddenly in the next instant he was waking up._

_His foggy brain did not let him realize that there was something wrong with suddenly being waking up. Izuna was just confuse and his head felt a little dense, as if it had been filled with Aunt Midori Gyoza’s stuffing. That confusion just let him question his own awareness. He really thought that he was going to die from his wounds. The only thing that he had regret before losing consciousness had been that he was not old enough to sign a summons contract to had been able to send the list of the supplies back to his father. The clan needed that information for whatever reason._

_After a couple of seconds of just blinking and questioning his own survival he realized that he was not on the forest ground. He was in a cave…_

_Ah…_

_Wait. How had he arrived there? Trying to find answers he started to look around. However, everything was very dark. There seemed to be a the remaining of a fire; but the hot coals did not help him to see a thing. So, he activated the sharingan._

_There was not a lot of space. The walls were very close and the floor was not uniform. However, the place was dry and he did not feel any cold. Also, it looked as if they were situated half way through a tunnel, because the cave continued in front and behind him._

_He looked down at himself an realize that he was not wearing anything more than bandages around all of his wounds. There was some kind of rough blanket covering him and he was laying on his own sleep bag. He was more confuse now._

_He tried looking around again in hopes of finding his mystery savior, or at least his own clothes; but he was starting to get tired again. However, after a couple of minutes he found a leg that came from behind a rock that was not too far from him._

_“Hey” Izuna tried saying, but his voice came out as a estrange sound. “Hey” the second time his voice sounded a little better “Who…” He tried to asked, but he was interrupted._

_“Sssshh” the sound came from behind the rock where he could see the leg “Go back to sleep Uchiha” The voice sounded young, kind of like his; he also sounded tired “The storm hasn’t stop yet” Izuna was really tired and so he let his brain drag him back to unconsciousness._

_When he woke up again, he was more lucid than before. He felt stronger and he was also hungry. The cave still looked the same, so he was unable to know how much time has pass; but his companion had moved next to the now lively fire and he was able to see him clearly._

_“Senju Tobirama” the boy tensed when he spoked but he did not turn to look at him. Izuna took his time to observe him. He looked tired, with a couple of scratches, his hands and eyes were bandaged up and he was wearing enough fur to be burning under them. “Why did you save me?” at that the albino turned to his general direction and furrowed his brow._

_“Don’t you remember Uchiha?” It was Izuna’s turn to be confused. He sat up and looked at Tobirama while scratching his neck._

_“No” he said activating his sharingan. It was then when the memories came to him, but the albino has already begun to speak._

_“We came across each other at the river. You told me that you had orders to kill me and that you regret not having the strength to follow them” The Senju started to tell him and the memory appeared in his head. He had been close to collapsing and he had found the Senju shivering under a tree. He had looked lost, wet and very tired. “And I told you…”_

_“If you bring us to a safe place, I’ll heal you so you can try to kill me next time” finished Izuna for him and Tobirama nodded at that._

_“So, you remember now” Izuna nodded._

_“Yeah, but still; why did you do it?” Tobirama snorted to himself._

_“So you can try to kill me?” he said with too much sarcasms_

_“Sure, I’m going to go along and believe that, because who doesn’t help the very person who is going to kill him”_

_“I didn’t say you were going to kill me Uchiha. I said that you were going to try” Tobirama said that with half a smile and Izuna growled at him. He tried to get up to get to the other boy but he suddenly felt a very strong pain on his side._

_“As soon as I can get up, I’m going to do it” he said in between closed teeth trying not to scream at the pain. Tobirama just got up to the other side of the cave and opened a bag. He took a little vial and walked back to where Izuna was._

_“Here” he said handing him the vial. “For the pain” Izuna looked at him like he was crazy._

_“I’m not going to drink that!”_

_“Why not?” asked Tobirama really confused._

_“Cause I don’t trust you” said Izuna “What if it is poison?”_

_“Why would I poison you after saving you?”_

_“I don’t know!” Tobirama snorted at that, but he left the vial close to Izuna before going back to sit by the fire without saying anything._

_The silence was a little suffocating, but because both boys decided to ignored each other it did not make them very uncomfortable. At some point Izuna took the vial with his left hand and started to examine it. When he did not find anything weird with it, he set it aside and went to examine the other boy._

_Even if the fire light gave him a little of red and orange colors he was still as white as the last time. What stood out about the boy was that he had grown up way too much. Izuna has grown up since the last time they saw each other, and some boys develop faster than others, but not that much. The last image that he had of him was of a smaller kid, thin, and with less chakra reserves than him. He could have sworn that the boy had been a year younger than him; but now he looked his age or even a year older. How had the Senju grow up so much in such a short time? Did they eat something that made them grow faster? No, that was ridiculous. Maybe the other boy had had a very fast grow sprout but still… well, he really was not going to guess the reasons behind that own his own, so he let it go._

_There were another weird things about the Senju to keep his mind occupy. Like why he seemed to be cold when the temperature of the cave was ok. He was still wearing those furs, he was close to the fire and he was a little bit bowed forward, like he was trying to keep the warm inside. Hm… maybe he was sick. But if he was… what was he doing here? It would be better to go back to his home so he was able to sweat the illness away. Hmm… that make him really come up to a question that started to bother him: Why was the Senju still here? He could have gone back any moment now, so what was keeping he here? Because Izuna was sure as the fire of Amateratsu that he was not the reason._

_In the end he just asked._

_“Hey Senju” Tobirama tilled his head to him “Why are you still here?”_

_“I don’t understand”_

_“I mean, you are not injured like me. Why are you still here? You could have gone back home by now.” At that the Senju moved his head towards one of the tunnels._

_“The storm is still going outside” Izuna snorted at that._

_“Are you afraid of a little bit of water?”_

_“Of course, not”_

_“Then?”_

_“I don’t want to get wet” Izuna laughed at that until his side started to hurt again._

_“A shinobi that doesn’t want to get wet, OMG” Izuna was able to say between laughs. Tobirama looked just a little bit annoyed._

_“One day I’m going to show you how uncomfortable is to be wet”_ (And he did Aniki. Do you remember that battle in which he used his Water Dragon on me and I could not get dry in days until we figure that he had link his water to my skin with a seal in my back? Well the next time we met up he just smirked at me and the bastard just said: “How was the wet experience?”) _Izuna looked at him funny._

_“Sure Senju” but he did not say anything more. It looked like the boy was not going to answer any of his questions so he decided to just ignored him._

_It wasn’t long after that he remembered that he was hungry. He looked around and found his bag not far from him. He took the two pieces of dry meat and bread that he had left and turned to the Senju._

_“Hey, do you want some?” Tobirama turned to him._

_“Of what?” Izuna had forgotten that he had bandages on his eyes._

_“Goat meat and bread”_

_“What if it is poisoned?” Izuna snorted at that remembering their recent conversation. “But no thanks, I ate before you wake up” Izuna just nodded and start to eat._

_After that the silence was little better. They still were very much aware of each other but the air between them was not suffocating._

_Izuna was dozing on his sleeping bag when he felt the Senju move. He was awake in an instant, but the boy only got up and start to walk out of his sight. Izuna tried to get up to follow him, but his side hurt again. He groaned and decided that to hell with everything. He opened the vial that the boy had gave him and down it in one go. He did not have to wait much because the effects were almost instant. Without thinking too much about the miraculous medicine he found his pants, put them on and follow the boy._

_The cave only advanced in one way, without any ramification so he just kept walking until he found Tobirama at the entrance, looking outside. And what a sight. Outside it was mayhem. It looked as if the sky was falling. The clouds were so thick it looked as if it was a close night, the wind blew so hard it could be heard and seen, the rain was falling so hard that it was difficult to see much outside of the cave and the lightning bolts were the only thing letting them see the world around them._

_“Yeah, I get that you don’t want to get inside of that” said Izuna and Tobirama laughed a little._

_“Yeah. This suck”_

_“Yeah. When I’m older I’ll be strong enough to walk through a storm like this and don’t care” Tobirama nodded at him before a lightning appear too close to them._

_“You’ll still get struck by a lightning”_

_“Then, I’ll just have to be able master lightning chakra” Tobirama moved his head like he was thinking._

_“I was told that Uchihas were Katon users” Izuna looked at him._

_“Yeah, well. I’ll just have to be better than them” Tobirama looked confused._

_“But I thought that one could only master the chakra type they were affine to” Izuna looked very confused at that._

_“Why? That seemed silly” Tobirama also looked confused._

_“I know, it must be a grown-up thing” Izuna nodded at that._

_“Yeah, it must be. Grown-ups are so serious all the time and sometimes they make things more difficult than they are” Izuna said remembering all those clan reunions._

_“Agree” then Tobirama seemed to think “Maybe you are right and other chakra types could be master”_

_“Of course, I’m right” Izuna said with an air of superiority._

_“Then I’m going to master all of them” Izuna looked at him surprised._

_“What!? You won’t be able”_

_“Why not?” he said looking at Izuna._

_“Well… because it is difficult and it takes a lot of time” Tobirama just smirked at that and turned around to enter the cave again._

_“I don’t have anything but time, after all… you are not going to be able to kill me any time soon.” It sounded like there was laugh on his voice and Izuna run after him._

_“Oh! You won’t have any. I’m going to kill you right now!” he said starting to jump to hurtle him. However, Tobirama turned around and hit him on his side and he felt to the floor._

_“You know that even if you can’t feel pain you are still injured, don’t you?” he said looking down at him._

_“I hate you” Izuna said but without malice in his voice._

_“No, you don’t” Tobirama said offering him his hand. Izuna took it because otherwise he would not be able to get up. Tobirama used his body to support him before he resumed to walk inside the cave, Izuna was able to see that the hand closer to the wall was touching it. Like he was guiding himself with the touch._

_“Yes, I do” he said when they reached their little camp and he disentangled from Tobirama._

_“But why?” said Tobirama sitting at his spot close to the fire._

_“Why what?” asked Izuna while he got comfortable again._

_“Why do you hate me? I’ve done nothing to you?”_

_“Because you are a Senju” said Izuna as a matter of fact._

_“That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t hate you because you are an Uchiha”_

_“But our clans are at war” Tobirama seemed to think that._

_“But until three month ago we had had almost six years of a Stop-Fire agreement.”_

_“Exactly what I said” Tobirama still looked confused._

_“But that is war. But you and I are not on the front lines” (After I learned of his sensing abilities a realize that he knew this because of them. Until then I did not know that it was weird that he knew that I was not on the battlefield)_

_“What does it matter? You are still a Senju.”_

_“You still haven’t give me a good reason to hate ME” Tobirama made more emphasis on him “You hate my clan, all right. But why me?” Izuna thought that and he could not find anything._

_“I don’t know. You are annoying I guess?” Tobirama snorted at that. “Oh! All right I don’t hate you!” Tobirama smiled at that “It’s just that they told us that all Senjus were monsters that kill babies.” Tobirama stopped smiling._

_“We don’t kill babies” Izuna looked furious at him with his sharingan active._

_“Of course you do. You murdered my baby brother. He wasn’t even one year old” Tobirama has been ready to respond, but after hearing that he did not know what to say. After a couple of seconds, he decided he needed to at least acknowledge what the other had said._

_“I’m sorry about your brother I did not know” Izuna looked surprised at that “To kill a baby is truly the act of a monster” Tobirama seemed to be saying this more to himself that to Izuna “That’s truly despicable” Izuna could just nodded and then the boy got up, kneeled and bowed in front of Izuna “I’m not aware of all the missions giving in my clan, but if it’s true I’m really really sorry about the part that my clan may had play in taking your brother from you”_

_Izuna was speechless. He truly was. How could that boy, from an enemy clan, apologize to him? How was this person even real? Izuna could not really understand how that boy did not seem to feel any hatred towards him. It was as if he was not able of it. He was a petrified until he realized that Tobirama was still on the floor._

_“Thanks…” It seemed like the only think he was able to say “Thank you Tobirama” the boy got up and nodded to him before going back next to the fire._

_“If it is true that there are child-hunts I’m going to try to stop them as soon as I get home” Tobirama whispered that more to himself than to Izuna heard him._

_“How?”_

_“I don’t know” Izuna nodded at that and they went back to just be in silence._

_They did not talk much after that. At some point Izuna tried to ask him why he had his eyes covered or why he was wearing so many clothes, but Tobirama just answered him ridiculous things to try to dodge the questions. What Izuna was able to gather was that Tobirama did not a have one truly malicious bone in his body. He seemed to genuinely want to help him to recover as much as possible as long as the storm did not let them go out. And it was during that time together that he realized that he wouldn’t be able to kill him without a very good reason. Izuna was a shinobi, but he did not want to go around killing good people. He wanted to be stronger to be as cool as his big brother and to protect vulnerable people like his little brother. And in that picture of his future stronger self, it did not fit having to kill Tobirama. He also realized that he could not tell that to his father; but how could he go to his father and tell him that he had an opportunity to kill Senju Tobirama and he had not taken it?_

_“You could not mention Tobirama on the mission report” said a little voice in his head. But that was illegal. However, no one will ever know that they had been together. No one in their right mind would be out in that storm, so no one could have ever seen him… And if he did not mention him, he would not disappoint his father and he won’t be able to send him in a mission specially given to rectify his error. He really did not want that._

_And so Izuna decided that he would not mention his time with Tobirama to anyone. It would just remain between the Senju and himself._

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna's age: 19 years

Madara's age: 23 years

“The next day the storm stopped and we went back home” said Izuna finishing the story of the second time they met up. “We travelled together for a while. Later on I realized that he had followed me until he was able to fell the Senju compound. That was where we went our separate ways.”

Madara was speechless at that. For him that experience that his brother just described seemed out of that world. But what shocked him the most was that the Senju, even if it was not his fault, had apologize for his brother’s murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about the Albino terminology. Those names are completely invented by me. But it is because the more technical names for that kinds of albinisms would not have been used in that time. So, I research a little bit about the types of albinisms and I gave them a plausible name:  
> It seems that the OCA (oculocutaneous albinism) is the most common and it has different levels, this is what Izuna is describing: The Snow Albinos, The Fair Albinos and The True Albinos.  
> Also, there is another type of albinisms that is very rare that just affects the eyes, so I did not take that in much consideration.
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter. I’ll be happy to read your opinion on it


	6. Chapter 6: Izuna' slavery experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuna finds Tobirama a year later in a very difficult situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the support. I love that you like the Izuna and Tobirama that I'm showing as a kids.
> 
> I'm sorry about taking soooo long to update but this chapter is very important and I really wanted it to be perfect. Also I had less time this week to write.
> 
> Hope you like it.

“Why?” asked Madara after a couple of minutes of assimilating all the information.

“Why what?” Izuna had an idea of what his brother was asking; but there had been so many surprises that day that he wanted to be sure.

“Why did he apologize?” Izuna smiled at that and looked at the albino.

“That’s a pretty good question” he then looked at his brother “Something that I discovered the next time I saw him was that Tobi feels a lot.” Madara was ready to call him a liar for that. As long as he knew, the only face that was known of that person was an impenetrable seriousness. However, the things that his brother had told him made him doubt. “He truly is Hashirama’s brother. They have the same ability to feel aniki; the only difference is what they let the others see.”

“And that is relevant in the apologies because…” Izuna looked at him like he was stupid.

“Don’t you remember what happened around that time?” Madara looked confused and Izuna just huffed “You were around eleven”

“Twelve” His brother interrupted.

“Well, twelve. What happened when you were around twelve?” And then Madara seemed to remember.

“I met Hashirama” Izuna looked triumphed at that

“Yeah! And why was Hashirama in that spot of the river?”

“Oh Kami! The death of his younger brothers” He then looked at Tobirama and Izuna nodded.

“Yeah, at that time only one of them had died. Well, he was murdered by the child-hunters”

“By Uchiha child-hunters” Madara finished for him.

“They never knew if it was our clan, but I’m sure of it”

“Kami…” Uchiha let that sink “And instead of accusing you, he apologized…” Madara made a face of incomprehension “Why? How? What!?” Izuna snorted at his brother confusion.

“Yeah. At the time I just thought that he was a very good person and he was sorry for Ryouta. However, when I found out about his brothers, I did not know what to think.” Izuna’s face contorted in pain “How could someone suffer so much and not be able to hate? I could really not understand” Madara nodded at that.

“It´s like you were talking about another person. It’s almost as if you were talking about Hashirama. I really can’t picture this” Izuna snorted at that and went back to look at Tobirama.

“And do you think that I could?” Madara observed how his brother looked at Tobirama “It has taken me a lot of time to know the real him” Izuna was looking at him the same way he used to looked at Yakumi, the younger twin.

After Ryouta’s death Madara has been surprise how fiercely Izuna has get attached to the twins and how fast he has become their protector. While Madara has been occupied thinking about Hashirama, his dream-village and his duties as the heir; Izuna had used all of his free time to make sure the twins were protected. He always looked at them as if they were a precious and fragile thing. So Madara was a little concern about his little brother looking at Tobirama the same way; because the albino was anything but fragile. That man could drown a whole battalion of Uchihas if he had enough chakra. He would have started to question his brother sanity if the story that he was telling him wasn’t anything but the truth. And with an active sharingan he could detect even half-truths; so, there was no way his Outoto was lying.

“Aniki” Izuna looked back at his brother “Do you know why was he so far from his home that night?” Madara just looked at his brother and just waited for him to continue. “He went to retrieve the only photograph of his death brother because he did not know how he looked like.” At that Madara looked at him funny.

“What?”

“Don’t you remember that he was almost blind?” Madara just nodded “Well, the only memory he had of his younger brother was how his chakra felt. He did not know how he looked like. So, he went there to retrieve it.”

“That’s… that’s terrible” Izuna just nodde0d at that.

“Yeah”

“But I thought that his brother would have been photographed at least once” Izuna looked sad at that.

“It seemed that the only one that mattered for Butsuma Senju was his heir”

“When did you discovered all this?”

“A couple of months later… do you remember the infiltration mission I was sent to for a couple of months to kill the heir of the Wind Daimyo?”

“Yeah, that ridiculous mission that the Fire Daimyo organized with every single clan as a bloody game” Izuna nodded at that.

“Yeah. But that was a pretty good strategy, aniki. If every clan tried to infiltrated, they would catch almost all of them, but in the end at least one would have passed the security”.

“Yeah, and that was only because father strategy was the best” at that Izuna looked like he disagreed.

“Yeah, well. I wasn’t the only one that was able to infiltrate” Madara looked at Tobirama and just raised one eyebrow. Izuna just nodded

“You never mentioned him”

“Yeah, I did, just not in a way that he would have been recognized” Madara looked confused at that. “This is going to be the longest of all the missions, so I hope you are comfortable” Madara looked outside and saw that the sun was starting to show his rays but he just nodded at his brother.

And so Izuna started to tell him the most important mission of his live. And not because of what he had to achieve, but because of what he gained along the way…

* * *

ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_Izuna had just develop his third tomoe and he was very proud. He was so proud that when his father gave him a mission to infiltrate for months in enemy territory, he did not realize how much he was going to end up hating his own blood. He hated his father for this, because really? Wasn’t there other cousin that could do this? Why was he the one that had to play the role of a modest, well manner and soft-spoken slave?_

_Yes, slave._

_His father had received a very important mission form the Fire Daimyo less than two months ago. The Wind Daimyo was dying; it would be just a matter of months before the old man would succumb to age and the successor was not something that the Fire Daimyo wanted. It seemed that the heir was a warmonger kid that had spent more time killing in the borders of his country than in the palace learning politics. Their Daimyo was afraid that if she did not do anything the kid would start a war as soon as he got to the power. The second heirs were more agreeable, and they were related to her in blood. The niece of the Fire Daimyo was the second wife of the first son of the actual Wind Daimyo and also the mother of the second heirs._

_Their mission was to infiltrate the palace of the Wind Daimyo and stay there as sleeping agents as a last resort. Other clans and nobles of the Fire Court had been sent to politically undermine the first heir and change the order of succession. If that were to fail the sleeping agents would have to kill the first heir, just as a last resort. So, in reality, the only difficult part was to infiltrate there and keep their role believable. The sleeping agent would have to be there for months waiting for orders. And if it came to it, kill._

_The Fire Daimyo really was an amazing strategist. By sending one ninja from each clan with different instructions, she guarantee that if one was caught the other ones would not be compromised. And also, there was one plan of attack for each ninja she had sent. It was almost impossible that all of them would fail. The first heir had no possibility to make it to the throne._

_All of that was amazing and Izuna really admired the Fire Daimyo. Everyone had been opposed to a woman being in a position of power; but it had taken her just one year to shut up everyone. She was an efficient woman, with the head of a strategist and the heart of stone when it came to protect his country. Some rumors said that her intelligence came from an old ancestry to the Naras, but nothing had been proved._

_So, he admired the woman, but he hated that it had to be him the one having to complete the mission. Upon receiving the mission, his father had used all the information he had of the Wind Country and from his spy-web, and has traced a plan to infiltrate the Palace that was almost flawless. Which all in all he also admired; but again why it had to be him? He was sure there were more cousins around the compound that could have done it._

_So, here he was now. Inside the palace. No one had suspected a thing about him or his role. There had been an almost disaster in the journey there, but in the end, it has not been more than a little scare. What still irked him it was the role he had to play: a slave. He really had no problem following orders; what he had problem was with having to be well manner and soft-spoken. It was as if every part of his body was mocking him._

_But, let’s go back to how he was able to infiltrate the Palace as a slave without anyone suspecting a thing. His father plan had been truly amazing._

_Let’s start pointing out that the Wind Country was the only one that still had slaves. The rest of the Countries at some point through their history had end with this practice. However, the economy of the Wind Country was only able to survive thanks to the slavery. The dessert made farming impossible; so, they had to create enough money to buy the resources from outside. Because of this, the Wind Country was famous for its crafts and their luxury lodgings. And thanks to the slaves those two things and more were possible to produce with the lowest cost._

_But that was the economical and logical reason as to why they still practiced slavery. The reality was that it was so ingrain in their culture and society that everyone had a slave. There were rumors that said that some ninja clans were slaves of some powerful lords. So, at some point he had understood that slavery was not a negative for them. Which it was still a very twisted aspect of that society._

_Because of this, the slave market was huge and very popular. The slaves came from almost everywhere. And even if threy were places where they were trained it was known that the palace like to train their own. It was also known that the palace only took pale slaves because it was a symbol of status._

_So, in reality the job was very simple. He had to find himself in the way of a slaver caravan and play the defenseless kid so he was captured. As soon as he was captured, the slavers had changed the route directly to the capital. It seemed that a pale young boy was a very big deal and something very difficult to find._

_His father has taken into account that with the dying Daimyo and the arrival of the heirs to the capital they would be in need of more slaves; so, he was sure they would buy him easily. Which had been true._

_As soon as they had arrived to the capital, they had brought him to a very nice-looking building and they had exposed him in the middle of it. Some noble looking people had tried to buy him; but in the end a man that was dressed as if he worked in a high position at the palace had pay an incredible sum of money for him and they had brought him to the Palace._

_They gave him to a very stern looking woman that had thrown him with other pale people to be trained. That had been fun. It was easy to learn the correct positions and to memorize the right dialogues (Let’s be honest, the sharingan is the best); in no time, he was catalogue as a possible high-ranking slave and they started to take care of him better._

_So, a month since he arrived in the palace, a month and a half since he was captured by the slavers and almost three months since his father was given the mission, he was an official slave of the Palace of the Wind Daimyo and no one had suspect a thing._

_Because there was no one from the royal family that needed a new slave yet he was giving the tasks of taking care of the most important places of the palace. Which were the royal chambers, the water gardens, the very high-ranking guests and the shrine of the God of the Royal Family. He was specifically given the gardens and sometimes the Royal chambers._

_His days wer very monotonous. He would wake before the sun appeared on the sky; he would tend the water gardens: Clean the water paths and took away the fallen leaves. He would also have to make sure there was water, because some nights were so hot that even the running water there would disappear. After making sure the garden was perfect he would be allowed to take a quick breakfast._

_If that day the royal family or any guest or someone from the court would have their breakfast at the Water Gardens, he would be there to assist them and their personal service in anything they needed._

_After that, it was too hot to be outside, so if it was request, he would help to clean the Royal quarters. If not, he was given other tasks or he was giving classes in singing, dancing or playing an instrument. Again, here he also had the advantage of the sharingan; so, learning to dance or to play an instrument was only difficult because he had to be careful about his doujutsu not been found out. The challenge came with the singing lessons. But well, he made outstanding performance with the other two, so it was ok._

_In the afternoon he had to again made sure that the Gardens were flawless for the evening and night activities. It was the only time of the day that he had to be outside when the temperature was uncomfortably high. But it normally was a quick process of making sure everything was all right._

_During the night he had the same task of assisting if there was any noble, royal or guest partaking in activities in the Gardens._

_Izuna worked with other boys and girls, as pale or paler than him, a couple of years older than him. But in general, everything was very quiet and everyone knew their place so there was a very small margin for misunderstandings._

_He was content because he was close enough to the royals that he had easy access to the heirs and the Daimyo; but he was bored as hell. Everything was very monotone. He knew that the work that was getting done now was done by the nobles that he recognized from the Fire court; but just waiting was boring. They were just conversating and doing little actions that destabilized bit by bit the relationships between one royal or other. So, from the outside everything looked the same._

* * *

_Less than a month later, his silent complaints about boredom were listened and something changed in his routine. The high priest of the shrine had come out to talk to the heirs and to give spiritual guide to the dying Daimyo, that didn’t seem to want to die anytime soon. The head of the slaves that had been instructing Izuna and other boys in dancing said that it was the perfect opportunity to show their dance. It was required that there was some kind of entertainment during meals when important personalities visit. However, with such a short notice to prepare it came to the high slaves to do be such entertainment._

_It went without saying that Izuna was the best of them all and performed so beautifully that the high priest ended up asking about him._

_And that same night he was walking the stairs to the shrine. The high priest had been looking for high slaves to be able to serve the new blessed one. However, every single one of them end up doing something wrong and displeasing the blessed one. The high priest though that a slave that could move so flawlessly could have higher chances than the other ones. Also, it had been difficult to find high slaves as young as the blessed one demanded._

_When they informed him of the existence of this supposed blessed one, he had been very confused about what that had meant. His head of slaves had told him that the God that habited in the shrine sometimes, in times of great change, sent them one of their blessed ones to help the high priest to interpret the god’s signals and to help the change being the best for their country._

_What had irked Izuna, and the thing that was making him dread having to serve this supposed blessed one wasn’t that he preferred young kids to serve him. No. It was that it seemed that the blessed ones were recognized because they were born as True Albinos._

_So, while he was walking up the stairs, a tiny, little part of Izuna’s brain was telling him that there was noooo way that the bastard had been able to infiltrate in such a way. It was such a risky form of trying to get inside that it was almost impossible. So many things could have gone wrong. But there was another part of his brain that was so sure that he was there that he did not know how he was going to react._

_He walked at the exact pace and distance that he had being shown; however, he really wished he could just run back or forward. Both options would have been better than having to walk at the pace he was walking right now._

_When they reached the shrine, he was amazed. It was breath taking. It was constructed in the Wind architecture stile. However, instead of the sand color of the buildings, everything was made of white marble and red glass. It had arches covering the whole way to the building on the top. It was not a huge place, so Izuna deduced that it was a private shrine for the Royal family to pray and the high priest to live. When he arrived at the building, he could see he was right. Behind that building, descending the hill at the other side there was a huge shrine that was connected to the rest of the capital and also separated from this one with the same walls that were around of the whole palace._

_“This little shrine is an extension of the original one. It was made during the civil war times so the priests and blessed ones had a safe place inside of the palace to rest” Izuna made a small curtesy._

_“Yes, Shingenari-dono” the high priest nodded_

_“Right now, it is the place where the blessed ones are house until they are needed no more” The high priest started walking again inside the building. “Follow me. I had to present you to the Blessed one to see if you would be of his liking” without saying a thing Izuna followed him without making a sound._

_When they reached a part of the shrine that looked more like quarters, they stopped in front of the only rice door that had light at the other side. The high priest looked at him and he kneel at the base of the door._

_“Shukufuku-sama” from the other side of the door he could only heart an agreement sound “I have brought you a new slave that it may be to your liking” there was silence for a couple of seconds before he heard a very clear and unmistakable voice._

_“Go ahead” the high priest signal Izuna the door. So, he opened it and without looking inside and he make a total courtesy, making his forehead touched the floor. There were a couple of seconds of complete silence before the high priest motion him to move inside the room._

_After that the door closed after him and he found himself kneeling on the floor in a half courtesy, alone with Tobirama Senju. He could only see his hands, but that voice had been impossible to forget._

_His hand made him a signal to wait, so he stayed in that position for a couple of minutes before he motioned him to look up._

_“We are alone now” Izuna looked him directly into the eyes and for some reason he felt an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. There was no bandage around those eyes, the pupils were darker than he could remember and his sigh was the most focused that had ever seen him. However, those eyes were absolutely dead. His gaze was completely muted, in the way that some people look when they had lost everything. He could read some of the micro expressions and postures of his body and he seemed sad and way too tired. What had happened to him?_

_“Tob…” he said breaking character. However, the other one interrupted him._

_“Tomorrow morning I’ll tell Shingenari-sama that you were not agreeable and you would go back to your previous position…” some kind of desperation got hold of Izuna at the sole idea of leaving him that way. It did not matter the mission or that his previous position was better for him because he was closer to his target, the only thing that matter at that moment was that he could not leave that boy there alone. Those eyes had awaken some kind of protectiveness in him that were screaming at him to do something._

_“No, please Tobirama” the boy was so startled because of the interruption that he stopped talking “Let me stay. We both know we are here because of the same mission. We could help each other; and if things get ugly, he could cover our backs better. Let me stay.” Tobirama looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before nodding. He looked so tired that Izuna suspect that he hadn’t want to fight._

_“All Rigth” Izuna smiled at that “but you can’t stop doing your duties. Do you understand that? You would have to serve me if we don’t want to be discovered” Izuna nodded at that._

_“I’ve been doing that for more than a month now. I think that I’ve got pretty good at it by now”_

_“You also can’t get out of character unless we are completely alone. Which I would tell you when we are”_

_“Why it would have to be you?” protest Izuna “I think I can realize pretty good when we are alone and when we are not”_

_“Not as good as me”_

_“Listen here Senju, I can read places better than you”_

_“No, you can’t” it seemed like the stupid banter had brought a tiny light to those eyes._

_“Of course I can, what makes you believe that you are better than me?” a ghost of a smile almost made its way to the other boy’s mouth._

_“Because I’m a sensor you dummy” the shock of the information made Izuna forget about the dummy thing._

_“You are a Sensor?!” Izuna’s eyes opened. Tobirama almost snorted at that._

_“I thought that you knew”_

_“Well, I didn’t… Since when?” Tobirama seemed to think the question._

_“Since I can remember” Izuna then thought of the two interactions they had had and somethings started to make sense. How he was able to dodge him at the palace on his first mission. Or how he was able to feel that the storm was still going the second time they had meet._

_“Wow, That’s amazing!” Tobirama seemed surprised at that “How much is your range?” Tobirama looked a little uncomfortable at that “Yeah, sorry, enemy’s clans and all of that. Forget I asked” Tobirama snorted._

_“You seemed rather excited” Izuna nodded at that._

_“This mission just turned way more interesting” Tobirama looked at him funny but he just nodded in return._

_“Let me tell you all the duties you would have to do” Izuna nodded at that and activate the sharingan._

_After that he showed him the little bed outside the room where he would sleep. It was the typical beds that personal slaves had next to their master room in case they were needed in the middle of the night._

_After that Izuna started to feel very tired; so, after helping Tobirama to get out of the difficult kimono they just went to sleep._

* * *

_Remembering everything that Tobirama had told him the night before he woke up early to clean up the floors adjacent to the blessed one’s bedroom. When everything was shining and the doors to the inside garden were open, he went to the kitchen to grab a quick meal and to get the Blessed one breakfast._

_When he reached the small shrine, he went directly to one of the adjacent rooms to the bedroom, where there was a table, and he laid all the plates in the correct order. Then he went to take a small wooden tub and filled it with water._

_After that he brought it to Tobirama’s room. Before he entered, he stopped at the door, kneeled, knocked and waited for the other boy to let him in. He got a grunt that he took as an affirmative response and opened the door._

_“Shukufuku-sama” he said doing a small reverence “I’ve come to help you prepare for the day” He heart another grunt and he took it again as an affirmative response._

_Tobirama was still in his bed. However, he seemed completely awake, but with zero intentions of getting out of it on his own. Izuna uncovered him and folded the quilt at the feet. When he looked back Tobirama was on his feet. He helped him out of his sleep-yukata and used the water to refresh him a little. After that he helped him dressed with the difficult kimonos that represented the Blessed ones. At some point the high priest appeared and started to list all the things that Tobirama had to do during the day._

_After helping Tobirama dress he direct him to the room with the breakfast and comb his no so short hair and adorned it with pins. Even if the basic form of the clothing were very similar to the ones in the Fire Diamiyo court, the colors and external forms were so different that they gave Tobirama an exotic and ethereal aura that had Izuna kind of amazed._

_However, even if he looked amazing and so beautiful that if he did not know he would have a hard time trying to figure it out his gender, he still looked and act as if he was tired of living. He even has to force him to finish the breakfast by feeding him himself._

_After that he followed both of them, the high priest and Tobirama, to the main and big shrine. There, they spent the rest of the not-hot hours receiving devotees and helping some of the prayers._

_When the sun was high on his zenith they went to the cold parts of the shrine where they spent time discussing theories or where Tobirama would help the priests interpret signs. It was at that moment that Izuna could see that Tobirama was also helping to turn the favor of the people to the twin heirs._

_He had to stay all day at Tobirama’s side helping him in any way, carrying things for him or bringing him lunch. This was the worst part of the day because he had to go to get the food when it was very hot._

_At the end of the day there was a little procession that was made at the sunset, when the red color of the sun would turn all the shrine walls crimson. The procession had the only purposed of bringing the Blessed one to his little shrine. Izuna did not get the pleasure of seeing that because he had to go ahead and prepare the place for Tobirama. He recleaned the parts of the external shrine that had got dirty during the day, he prepared a warm bath and brought dinner._

_Tobirama ate dinner before taking the bath. So, he had to go to the kitchens to brought the empty plates very quickly to help Tobirama undress. When he came back, he had tried to start undressing himself but it was a very delicate cloth with a very difficult wrappings so he had not gotten very far._

_As he was entering, he looked at him with those lifeless eyes. Izuna frustration had grown as the day had advanced because that expression had not change. He looked as if he was almost comatose inside his head. He really wanted to know what had happened to make him look that way. Maybe the war against the Senju had kill someone dear to him. However, he knew that he was the second son of the Clan head; so, if something had happened to his parents or his brother his father would have told him, wouldn’t he? Izuna huffed and went to help him undress._

_He was so concentrated on helping him with his clothing and trying to figure a way to help him out with his mental state that what happened next took him completely by surprise. He was taking out a part of the outfit that went one time around Tobirama so he had to get very close to him and move his arm around his middle in what from the outside could look like a hug. So, when he was closed enough that he was seeing the movement of his hand from the top of Tobirama’s shoulder, the other boy moved and hug him back. Izuna had a couple of seconds of confusion before he realize that he was being huffed and he return the gesture with a protectiveness that almost scare him._

_Tobirama sighed and hugged him a little tighter. Izuna was still trying to understand the reason why the other boy had reacted that way; however, he relaxed his body to accommodate his._

_Before he could do more than think of how confusing the situation was, Tobirama disentangled himself from him and let him continue undressing him. Izuna decided that Tobirama was not in any condition to acknowledge what had just happened so he let it go, for the moment._

_“I’m going to need help in the bath” that surprised Izuna too. That was the closest thing to an invitation to bath with him that he would get while they were on roll. And that Tobirama was still seeking human interaction surprised him and made him smile because it was a good thing._

_“Of course Shukufuku-sama” he guide Tobirama to the baths and he undress himself to join him._

_Tobirama kept surprising him; because, after they had cleaned their front, Tobirama asked him to help him cleaning his back. Izuna did as asked and he saw Tobirama relaxed again at the contact._

_That made Izuna realize that maybe the problem was that Tobirama was touch starved. Which was a little weird because he did not seem to have that problem the last times they had met. And also, it did not explain why he was so sad._

_Izuna reading the atmosphere and knowing it was not the time to even talk he just went with the situation. He let Tobirama clean his back when he asked and after that they both got inside of the warm water._

_He let the water relax all the muscles that were screaming at him after being in such uncomfortable positions for the whole day and sighed. When he came back to himself and realized that he was supposed to help Tobirama he opened his eyes and found that the other boy was almost sleep. He smiled to himself, got out of the warm tub, dried and put a yukata robe around himself before turning to Tobirama. He took the boy from the water, dried him and carried him to the bedroom._

_When he touched Tobirama he realize that the boy had almost no chakra left in his body. He could really not feel any of it. It remained him of two situations that had kill shinobis back at home: Chakra exhaustion and a seal that sealed their chakra away to the point where they had not access to it and they died a long and slow death._

_It did not made sense that he had chakra exhaustion because he had not used chakra during the day. So, it had to be a seal. He tried to find it but there was nothing but immaculate white skin. He started to get nervous._

_“Tobirama where is the seal” The other boy had his eyes half open when he looked at him._

_“Hm?” he looked to be very comfortable in his arms with no intention of moving._

_“The one that is sealing your chakra!” At that Tobirama opened a little his eyes in realization._

_“Not Worry” it seemed that when he was tired, he could not articulate as good “Is safe. Just so I aint get discovered” Izuna relaxed at that but still he was worried._

_He dressed a half sleep Tobirama and helped him get inside of the futon. When he was about to get from his knees and t to sleep himself Tobirama got hold of his hand._

_“I’m …hold…” he was whispering so low that Izuna was having a hard time hearing what he was saying, but he could make a pretty good guess about what he was saying “ while… sleep” Izuna sighed and resigned himself to sleep there and to suffered Tobirama’s glares the next day, he really could said no to him in such a state._

_He laid there on the futon letting Tobirama hold his hand, wandering what had really happened to make that confident boy so sad and vulnerable. He really hoped that Tobirama was in a mood to talk the next day because his confusion was growing very fast. This boy was not even a shadow of the one he had encounter in his previous missions. It was as if they had suck the life out of him and let his corpse with enough energy to move and function as it was expected of him._

_And maybe not the next day, but before the week was over Izuna did not know that he would regret wanting to know what had really happened._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the idea is that the High priest is going to be called Kitagashi Shigenari (I didn't really look into what it meant I just like how it sound)
> 
> Also, the name that they call Tobirama: Shukufuku-sama, it means Blessing-sama. I chose this because the translation to Blessed one was way too long and it did not sound as good to me. If someone thinks that I should change it I'll be glad to hear about it ^.^
> 
> While I was writing I kept imagine the Wind Diamiyo court as an oriental palace, more like Aladdin kind of court xD, but I know they all keep the Japanese tradition of dress code. So, if you want to imagine how the aesthetic of the place is just mix both styles a little.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I would love to hear what you think about the chapter and the story so far


	7. Chapter 7: Izuna' Little victories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two days of cohabitation bring out a lot of things. But Izuna still won’t know the important truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! Thanks so much for your support and for keeping reading almost as soon as I update. Because of this I decided to cut in two a chapter that was going to be way longer. However, I love to make Tobirama and Izuna interact and it has become long enough to post as two different chapters and even if it would have been good to post as one, I think you would appreciate to have an update sooner. So, here it is.  
> Hope you like it!

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_Izuna woke up the next day to find Tobirama looking at him. He tensed all the muscles of his body waiting for the other to make a move. He knew from experience that a lot of shinobi were proud of not showing any weakness, and even if he was dying to help the other boy, Tobirama did not know this and may only view him as a kid from an enemy clan with whom he had to work because of the circumstances. So, his hopes were not very high waiting to see how the other boy would react._

_He really was happy to have been able to help the night before. However, he was afraid that it would make things worst in the morning, and he really did not want to think of the consequences. And another thing that he really did not want to think about very deeply was the strong feeling of protectiveness that he felt towards that boy. The only time that he had wanted to end him had being because his father had ordered so because of his brother’ murder. But, in the end Tobirama had made him realize that he really had not wanted to. He had not done anything to him or his little brother. He had just been a very sneaky, sarcastic and sweet boy about his age that had to suffer the same fate as him: the second son of the Head of their own clan that had to grow up too fast to stay alive. So, all in all he at least had felt some kind of comradery towards him. But, the day before, as soon as he had saw those eyes void of life, he had felt a very strong feeling and as an Uchiha he could not ignored it. He had always been told that other clans tried to control and mitigate their feelings to try to eradicate them; but the Uchihas gain power because of those feelings, so he had been taught how to canalize and handle them. So again, he had let his feelings guide him and he had focused all of his attention on bringing the other boy back to life. And he was not going to really give a lot of thought to that in that moment._

_In the end he did not have to wait a lot to see the others reaction, because Tobirama just sighted and took back the hand that Izuna was still holding in his._

_“Sorry about yesterday” Tobirama murmured turning to look at the ceiling “That was why I did not want any slave to be given for my care” Izuna tried to find a connection between having slaves and breaking down; but he was not really going to question the logic; not right now at least._

_“That was why the Shigenari-sama was desperate to find a slave” said Izuna and Tobirama groaned “How many did you rejected?”_

_“Too much” Izuna snorted at that._

_“I can imagine you giving stupid reason as to why you did not want a slave” Tobirama looked at him funny “Like, at first you would say they were too old, or too short, or too blond. I don’t know. But in the end, I can imagine you giving stupid reasons” Tobirama huffed almost amused._

_“I did tell him that one of them had too many freckles for my taste” Izuna laughed at that._

_“Oh Amateratsu, I can imagine his face, trying to be all stoic. I’m sure that he really wanted to kill you at that moment” Tobirama seemed to think about it before nodding._

_“Yeah, I thought that if he kept bringing me slaves and I continue rejecting them he would end up losing it and killing me before the End of the Blessing” Izuna smiled while the other was talking until he said the last thing. He was just confused by the end._

_“What is the End of the Blessing?” Tobirama looked at him before he sat up to start explaining._

_“The Blessed ones do not spend all their lives as such.” Izuna sat up seeing as this was going to be a long explanation “They just appear sometimes in moments of change and when those moments of change had finished, they let them go.”_

_“How do they know the moments of change had ended” Izuna asked finding the situation kind of opportunistic._

_“Their traditions dictate that a rigorous test must be done to find a Blessed one, after such is found their hair is cut and the moment of change will end when a perfect Blessed braid can be done in their hair.” Izuna’s mouth made an O starting to understand._

_“That is why you are letting your hair grow” Tobirama nodded at that. “And what is a Blessed braid?”_

_“I don’t know how it is supposed to look like. However, I’ve been told that the priest would do it at the beginning, when there is enough hair to do at least one node, but at some point, it would have to be taught to my personal slave” Izuna signaled himself smiling and Tobirama nodded._

_“But your hair is already longer that what I remember. How long have you been here?” Tobirama seemed to think the question._

_“A little more than a month” Izuna looked at him strange._

_“It is impossible that your hair had grown so long in such a short time” at that Tobirama looked at him almost smiling._

_“It is possible taking a very specific medicines so it grows faster”_

_“Isn’t that cheating?” Tobirama moved his head from side to side._

_“Not really. However, they do not need to get in the know of how my hair grows so fast. The high priest just thinks that it is because the moment of change is very close, so the god is making my hair grow faster” Izuna snorted at that._

_“That’s just stupid. Why would a god waste their time making your hair grow faster?” Tobirama just shrugged his shoulders._

_“I did not come here to find logic in their religion” Izuna snorted at that. He really found enjoyable the formal antics of his “little master”._

_“And are they going to just let you go after that? You will just walk out of those gates like nothing?”_

_“No, there would be a huge ceremony; and after that there would be procession that will lead me to the center of the desert and they will leave me there.” Izuna looked at him a little constipated “They seemed to think that it is a judgment from their god. If I helped the change in a good way the God would lead me out of the desert to a good place to life the rest of my life. If I did not help in a good way the God will keep me inside the desert until I die.”_

_“This people are really weird” was the only thing that Izuna could thought after hearing that. “They seemed to like their desert a lot” Tobirama snorted a little at that and Izuna almost did a happy dance because of it. “And…” he was going to ask about what he was planning to do when that happened but Tobirama interrupted him._

_“Don’t you have duties to get to?” Tobirama arched a brow and Izuna looked him with his eyes closed halfway; but in the end he just snorted, nodded and got up._

_“Of course Shukufuku-sama” he said with a little of sarcasm in his voice “I’ll be right back with your breakfast” he made a half reverence and before he got out of there to start his day he looked at Tobirama to see him, not smiling, but not as death as the day before._

_Little victories._

_The rest of the day was pretty similar to the day before. He tended to the quarters and to Tobirama the whole day. He had to fetched his lunch and went ahead after the day was over to get his arrival to the small shrine ready. And even if the day was the same as the one before, it was way more fun than his duties at the Water Gardens. He could spend all day listening to the people there, and to Tobirama discussing things with the priests. Because even if he could no participate in the conversations, he made small noises to certain things that had Tobirama reacting. It was a small way of communicating how stupid or interesting somethings were. So, all in all he was not bored anymore with his duties._

_At the end of the day, when he was helping Tobirama out of his dress robes he could see the hesitation of the other boy. This time the garment did not have any specific part that forced him to be in close contact, so the surprise hug could not happen again. And Izuna following his intuition he just decided to take off the undergarment by unlacing the back from the front. It did seem to work. Tobirama took the opportunity to hug him and Izuna just smiled and hug the boy back._

_Tobirama seemed to relax at that inhale deeply._

_“Thank you Izuna.” Izuna looked surprised at that. He has not been sure if Tobirama was ready to talk about it; but it seemed he was._

_“You don’t have to thank me for that” Izuna just said “You are a nice hugger” Tobirama snorted at that and Izuna felt a little prouder of himself for making the other boy almost laugh._

_“There isn’t a lot of people that would not find strange to hug an enemy” Izuna snorted at that._

_“You are not my enemy Tobirama” at that Tobi stopped the hug to look at him “We are not friends either, not yet at least” Izuna said almost smiling. “But for some reason I trust you” Tobirama seemed moved so much by what he said that he hugged him on his own volition and Izuna interpreted it as ‘I trust you too’; which probably was not true but it made him happier to think it that way._

_“Still, I’ve been told that to show emotion is to show weakness. A hug is a weakness” Izuna hugged him tighter._

_“That’s bullshit… and stupid. Emotions are important. “Izuna could feel the confusion of the boy “They had always told me that to get stronger I had managed my emotions because trying to making them disappear would make them explode” Tobirama ended the hug to look at him._

_“I don’t understand. If you suppress your emotion how could they explode?” Izuna try to think of everything they had told him about them._

_“I really don’t know… I think it is like a problem. If you don’t solve the problem and try to hid it, it would appear by surprise. But if you solve the problem it would disappear?” he was not sure if he had explained right “I don’t know. The only important thing here is that Uchihas are a very tactile persons and I would never mind to give you a hug if you need one”_

_“You Uchihas sure are weird” Izuna stacked out his tongue._

_“Look who’s talking” Tobirama nodded at that but he did not continue with the conversation._

_“Are you taking the bath with me?” Izuna hurried up after Tobirama to take the bath with him._

_It seemed that the conversation had relaxed Tobirama greatly because he no longer looked like he was seeking to be touched. He let it come and did not put any resistance. Izuna, also started to distinguished a little bit more of emotion on his face; like he had taken into consideration what he had said about emotions. So maybe he did not have touch starvation. He had been told that any kind of starvation takes a lot of time to mend; so, a single night and a couple of conversations would not have been able to cure him of it. Maybe it was something else; but what? The reaction that the other boy had the night before did not make a lot of sense. He really did not have a lot of experience with this kind of things. He lived with his brothers, which were all very tactile and not afraid of voicing their desire for affection. The cases of Uchihas that had some kind of problem were treated by the medics or by their own family; so, he had not had the opportunity to see the different types of touch illness._

_Well, he still had at least a couple of months to work with Tobirama to try to help him. Even if he did not know a lot; something he could not deny was that he was going to need a lot of time to gain the trust of the boy if he wanted to discover what had happened. Because even if they had talk and he was able to relax him; Tobirama still had not say a single personal thing about himself or about the situation. The closest he had come to saying something it was the night before when he asked him to stay; however, he could not make sense of what he had tried to say._

_After the bath, Tobirama had looked a little trouble when he had help him in the bed and got up to go to his. And because Izuna was still a little shit, even if his protective instincts were making him a lot of softer, he just kept walking out of the room waiting for Tobirama to say something. However, instead of sleeping at his designed place outside the room, he took his futon and came back to the room to lay it next to Tobirama._

_The albino looked so surprised and relived that Izuna almost laugh to himself; but he did not want to scare Tobirama, so he kept it to himself. He set the futon touching Tobirama’, got inside and stretched out his hand under the covers. He did not take it but he still looked surprised that he had offered. Izuna just smiled a little._

_“Goodnight Shukufuku-sama” he said with sarcasm in his voice a he closed his eyes._

_Tobirama did not say anything. However, a couple of minutes later, when he was starting to drip into sleep, he felt the boy taking his hand. That wake him up, but he tried to not alter his breathing so he did not startle the other boy._

_Almost half an hour later, when he could feel the other almost asleep Tobirama murmured something that left him with more questions:_

_“Kawa-kun” Tobirama tried to bring his hand closer to his chest and Izuna just moved along to let the other boy clung to him in a more comfortable way._

_After that and helped by the even breathing of the albino it did not took him a lot of time to let himself be lull to sleep as well._

* * *

_The next day Izuna woke up before Tobirama. The boy was clinging to him stronger than the day before, but he really did not mind. The twins tended to do the same when he had to sleep with them. He loved them to tears but having to sleep with them was a little nightmare. They liked to get hold of anything they could find and sometimes it was his hair; so, the nights his mother could not take care of them were not the best. He preferred to sleep in his and Madara’ room. It was also quieter. So Tobirama just taking temporary possession of his arm was really nothing in comparation to his little brothers._

_He would have liked to talk again with Tobirama, but the boy seemed to need the rest; so, with all the carefulness he could master and trying to suppress his chakra he took his arm back and put his pillow in its place. Then he took his futon to its original place and started to get his duties done._

_By the time it was time to wake up Tobirama the high priest had arrived, so he could not talk to him. However, he smiled at him when he was waking him up, which seemed to be a good thing because Tobirama nodded back at him in secret greeting. Izuna was going to make him smile even if it killed him._

_The day went as always. However, something very curious happened when the time to attend the devotees ended. The priests gave Tobirama a couple of scrolls to read; because it seemed that in that day the religion dictated it was needed to read some histories about something, and after that make some kind of inventory of the offers and the donations. Instead of taking the scrolls and start reading he gave them to Izuna._

_“Read them for me” Izuna just nodded and bowed. He took the first scroll when he realized the tension in the room._

_“Shukufuku-sama, What…?” it sounded like one of the younger priests._

_“My eyes tired easily, you wouldn’t want me to suffer when someone could read for me, would you?” Izuna frowned at that explanation. It sounded like those half truths every shinobi is teach to say. That meant that something was wrong with Tobirama’s eyes, or maybe something about reading? Who knows, he would have to storage that information for later; for when they were alone._

_“Of course not Shukufuku-sama. However, only some of the high-slaves can read. Maybe we can read them for you” It was then that Tobirama turned to him._

_“Do you know how to read?”_

_“Hai, Shukufuku-sama” he did not meet anyone’s eyes. He had been taught that as a slave, when he was in the middle of discussion the best way to act is trying to not gather attention to oneself._

_“Then he will read” There was a small paused before he continued “Thank you for your kind offer”_

_“The order of the reading will be…” and the high priest started giving Tobirama the instructions, that Izuna follow to be able to read to Tobirama in order._

_They spend the rest of the day like that until he had to go to prepare the little shrine for him._

_When he arrived to take Tobirama’ clothes off he decided to ask. That day’ garment was extremely complex and it would take a lot of time to undress him._

_“Is it true that your eyes get tired?” Tobirama seemed surprise to heard him talk “Is it because you are an albino?” He looked a little troubled “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want, I’m just curious”_

_“Yes and no” he said after a couple of seconds “They used to tire, and my vision was not that good. However, they have been fixed” Izuna nodded._

_“Is that why your pupil is darker?” Tobirama looked at him confused, so he explained “The first time we saw each other the color of your pupil was light red. But now the color of your pupil is crimson almost black”_

_“Yeah, it was that part of the eyes the one that was fixed”_

_“And you don’t tire anymore” he said while he turned around Tobirama to take out a very strange rope. Tobirama followed him with his eyes._

_“Not anymore” Izuna paused in front of him._

_“Then why did you ask me to read to you? I mean, you almost antagonism them for it” at that Tobirama blushed a little a looked away from him._

_“You are going to laugh at me” Izuna was still looking at him_

_“Naah, try me” Tobirama sighted_

_“Before my eyes were fixed my vision was so poor that I could no distinguished the kanjis, so…” Izuna understood, even if the other did not want to continue talking._

_“You could not read, so they never taught you” Tobirama nodded at that “But now you can, can’t you? Why haven’t they taught you?”_

_“They have” he said really fast “But I have not achieved yet an optimal technique. My brother was teaching me, but between training, missions, the war and his duties it is difficult to find the time.” Izuna nodded at that. As long as he knew every shinobi child was taught to read and to write really young by their mothers or caretakers, because when one reached a certain age they stopped having time for that kind of things. “I taught myself as much as I can, but some kanjis still are difficult I have yet to star with the katakana.” Izuna nodded at that “So you can imagine I did not want to make a fool of myself back there”_

_“It makes sense” Tobirama looked surprise that he had not yet make fun of him “Writing and calligraphy are a bitch. I had to take one class every week and I hate it” Tobirama looked amused at that “Hey, I could help you” His amusement turned into confusion “I can practice calligraphy and I can help you with you reading”_

_“How?” Izuna thought about that_

_“I don’t know. But we are not really doing anything here. We could as well use the time for something useful” Tobirama seemed to think about that “Got an idea… Tomorrow those priests said we have to continue reading. Well, I could keep the finger under the symbols I’m reading so you identify the ones you don’t know”_

_“That is not such a bad idea” Izuna just glared at him._

_“You don’t have to sound so surprised you know” Tobirama let slip a little smile at that, so Izuna just forgot about the last two seconds and him being mildly offended “We could even spend less time bathing and practice a little every night”_

_“I would like that. But I’m not sure if we could get scrolls to read”_

_“Leave that to me. In the High slaves’ quarters, there are poetry scrolls that are used to teach the newbies to read.” Tobirama nodded at that._

_Right after that he finished taking all the garments and Tobirama was left just in his under yukata. He left every piece perfectly folded in its drawers and when he came back, he went directly to Tobirama and instead of helping him to take the rest he hugged him. It seemed that the other boy had been in deep thinking and he had taken him by surprise._

_“What are you doing?” Izuna tried not to tense his muscles._

_“You got me used to such a good hugs that I was starting to miss them” he thought he had overstep; however, Tobirama snorted and hugged him back._

_“This is nice” murmured Tobirama sometime after when he was still hugging him._

_“Yeah. Hugs help to make everyone happy and to relieve tension” Tobirama hummed at that._

_“I did not know that, but I supposed it is true. My big brother is always hugging people” Izuna snorted at that._

_“Really? Then how are you not used to them?”_

_“I’m kind of used to. Just not from outside my family” Izuna hummed back “Also my brother’ hugs are kind of bone crushing” Izuna snorted and Tobirama released the hug._

_“He does not sound so bad” Tobirama smiled._

_“He is the kindest person I’ve ever known” Izuna nodded “Let’s bath”_

_The conversation seemed to end there. Izuna just asked him, during the bath, about literature topics that he prefer to see if he would be able to choose when he went the day after to get the scrolls from the High Slaves quarters._

_After the bath he went directly to get his futon and laid it nest to Tobirama’. They fall asleep again facing each other and Izuna woke up having his arm taken from him by an over cuddly albino._

_And Izuna was starting to think that he was going to be able to help him like that; one day at a time, slowly talking things out. He could not imagine that he was just a couple of days away from discovering the truth behind the lifeless eyes of his companion._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah there it is. I wanted to leave some kind of prove that Tobirama' almost blindness was not just a dramatic consequence of his albinism. Even if he is a genius blindness is no joke and I wanted to show that once he got his sight fixed, he needed some time to adapt to a world where he is able to see. Like, I don’t know if this would be relevant or not, maybe I would introduce it at some conversation, but before Tobirama did not know what colors were, so seeing them had to be a shock for him, at least at the beginning.  
> Also, do not worry. It won't be long before Izuna discovers the truth and can take care or our baby more.
> 
> I hope you liked it.  
> Thanks for reading.  
> I would love to read what you think about it.


	8. Chapter 8: Tobirama' grieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... big revelation in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thanks for the comments and the kudos. They make my day!!  
> And thank you so much for all of you that are still reading this story ^.^
> 
> Also, I wanted to have updated on friday, buuuut this chapter has been a little of emotinally draining and I could not writte with out stoppping to take breaks.
> 
> I hope you like it! ^.^

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_The next day he woke up again before Tobirama did, so he let the other boy sleep and start to get his duties done. By the time he had to go to the kitchen to get Tobirama’ breakfast the Head of the High Slaves was awake and he was able to talk her into giving him a couple of the advanced scrolls of poetry. At the beginning she didn’t want to give them to him. However, when he told her that the Blessed One was making him read to him and he wanted to practice in his spare time, which was not really a lie, she let him choose whatever he wanted._

_As soon as he put the breakfast on the table, he put away the scrolls under his futon. After that he went to wake up Tobirama. That day the High priest was a little late, so he was able to wake him up in a more informal way._

_“Wakey wakey sleepy head” Tobirama groaned and turned around “Oh come one, today is going to be a great day. You still have to wear that monstrosity even if it is in different colors but today you only have to wear 50 pins in your hair. It is a serious improvement”_

_“Yesterday I had to wear the same number of pins” he growled from underneath the futon._

_“Naah, yesterday you had to wear 5 more because the combinations of colors demanded it” Tobirama moved the futon just to be able to glare at him “I would know it, I was the one having to comb and arrange your hair snowflake” Tobirama sat up and kept glaring at him._

_“You are way too jovial this morning” Izuna snorted at that, while he took the futon cover to start folding it._

_“Well, it is a beautiful morning, there are no noisy priest yet, and I was able to get poetry scrolls so, all in all is a good day” Tobirama seemed to wake up at that._

_“You were?” Izuna smiled and nodded._

_“We can start this very night” Tobirama nodded at that and got up from the futon so Izuna could finish putting it away._

_“Thank you” Izuna smiled at him while he was bringing him the washbowl to refresh the other boy._

_“No problem” The conversation did not go farther than that, and it was a good thing because a couple of seconds after that the High Priest appeared._

_The rest of the day went almost as the last one. They tended to the devotees and after that they went inside to read. That time Izuna did as promised and kept his finger under the kanjis he was reading. However, after Tobirama finished his lunch the High Priest measure his hair, which was starting to touch his shoulders, and proclaimed that the hair was long enough to make the first node of the Blessed Braid. It seemed to brought a lot of joy to all of the priests. The good thing was that from that point on Tobirama’ hair would always be the same; and Izuna suspected that the dress code would suffer the same fate. The bad thing was that the Higth Priest was insisting on showing him how to do the braid that day, and with so many witnesses he could not activate the sharingan. And against all of those odds, he was able to almost do it right. The High Priest promised to do the braid the next day so he could practice more. Which Izuna suspected was a gesture done more out of fear of having to replace again the slave._

_After that, the rest of the day went as the one before. However, when he was undressing Tobirama de High Priest came to warm them that the day after they would have to do a visit to the royal family to make a private celebration for the first node of the Blessed Braid. It seemed that there was a lot of protocol to such a thing and they had to prepare in a different manner and change the whole schedule for that and also Izuna would not be able to be as close as always._

_He told them all of the rules and parts of the next day while he was undressing Tobirama. Which it was a good thing, because he could keep the sharingan active to be able to memorize everything, without being detected because he had to keep his head bow at every moment._

_In the end the High Priest left only when he was leading Tobirama to take his bath. He gave goodnight to the Blessed One and promised, to Izuna horror, to be there first thing in the morning._

_“I thought he was going to bath with us” Izuna said when Tobirama told him they were truly alone._

_“It would not have been so strange” Izuna looked at him funny._

_“Yeah sure, whatever you say mate” Tobirama looked at him, but he did not say anything, it seemed that the increasing familiarity in Izuna speech did not bother him. Instead he went to wash himself, looking very intently at his hands. “Something wrong?” Tobirama looked at him, look at his hands and then looked back to him._

_“I don’t know if all of the oils they will put on me tomorrow would be good for my skin” Izuna frowned at that._

_“Are you allergic?”_

_“Not that I know; but I am a little worried” Izuna took his hand a examine it._

_“Don’t worry, we will clean you extremely well after that” Izuna smiled as he turned the boy around to clean his back “it would be as if you never had aromatic oils on your skin.” Tobirama just nodded at that._

_They finished quite fast their bath and they spend almost another hour reading and doing some calligraphy with their fingers. It was true that Tobirama had some trouble with some words, and it was also true that he did not know anything about the third alphabet. However, it astonished Izunas was how fast he was able to learn and to mend his errors. He did not saw him making the same mistake or hesitating in a word thrice; and he knew this was not a small fit. He had been taught how to read before he was able to develop the sharingan and there were so many words that he kept making the same mistakes for weeks. However as soon as he got his doujutsu he was able to memorize all the symbols he had left in a matter of hours_

_When the time to sleep came Izuna decided to hug Tobirama to sleep with no remorse. Sued him, he had not been able to do it before and he liked how the other boy relaxed in his arms. Tobirama just went limp and before he knew it, he was asleep. Izuna fall asleep smiling just because of that._

* * *

_The next day he woke up to Tobirama hitting him with worry. Izuna look at him a little worried, because he did not know what had made the other boy nervous._

_“Shigenari-sama is already awake. It won’t take long before he comes here” that made Izuna jump out of his futon._

_He used his shinobi speed to complete all of his tasks: to clean the quarters, fold all the futons, bring the Blessed one Breakfast, and of course clean himself and dress appropriately for the Royal visit. By the time the High Priest arrived he was already refreshing Tobirama. They High priest brought with him a couple of novices with the require oils and the ceremony attire._

_They did not let him keep tending to Tobirama because the clothes were too pure for a slave. Izuna almost, just almost, made a sarcastic comment about their concept of pure. However, he just made a noise that made Tobirama raise his brow and he bowed next to a corner a tried to make himself invisible._

_The rest of the day was quite enjoyable. He had to run from here to there, bringing stuff, helping the Royal and the Water slaves prepare and serve things. So, he did not get bored. However, he spent so many hours running under the sun that he thought that he got a sunburn. But that was just a minor inconvenience that it was not very important at the moment. The only thing that he did not like about the day was that he did not have Tobirama in his sight all the time, like the last four days. But Tobirama was a very competent shinobi, so he was not worried._

_At the end of the day, he greeted Tobirama at the small shrine, after he cleaned and prepared it, with a bowed and a respectful greeting because he was still accompanied by the priest and the novices. They were the ones to undress him and to take all the pins from his hair. Before they left, the High Priest gave good night again and told him to be ready for tomorrow._

_“What is so special about tomorrow?” Izuna asked when they were alone in the bathroom. Tobirama frowned but did not stopped looking at his hands like the night before._

_“Tomorrow I am required to accompany the priest to visit the people that cannot come to pray. Like the old ones, the people at the hospital, or the orphanage. It’s the second part of the First Node of the Blessed Braid celebration”_

_“Well, it won’t be boring. I’ll have to go with…” he was starting to asked, but Tobirama suddenly turned to look at him in a very serious way and Izuna just stopped “What’s wrong Tobirama?”_

_The boy kept looking at him, like he was still trying to decide to do whatever he was thinking so hard since yesterday. Izuna just waited there, letting Tobirama reached to a decision. In the end the albino just sight and offered his right hand._

_“Apply a little of chakra here” Izuna looked surprise at that. He really was not expecting that. However, such a simple request was easy, so he just took the offered hand and did as asked._

_And suddenly a seal appeared on both sides of the hand and the first half of the arm. The seal looked really complex but it was beautiful._

_“Wow” he said tracing it with his finger, but without applying chakra, he was not stupid “What does it do?”_

_“It protects my skin” he just said and Izuna understood. His skin was way sensible than any other so it made sense that he would have some sort of protections. “It also makes any imperfections on my skin disappear. That was one of the requirements to be chosen as a Blessed One”_

_“That’s super cool” and then Izuna turned to looked him in the eye “But I do not understand why you are showing me this” Tobirama sighted at that._

_“It is kind of out of necessity. I need your help deactivating it to clean it and reactivating it again” Izuna did not understood how he was going to clean a seal without erasing it. Tobirama saw his confusion and kept explaining “it is not just a seal. It is cloth that is over my body covering all the necessary parts.” Izuna was more confused by that so Tobirama tried to explained slower “The seal has two functions: protect my skin and make the imperfections disappear” Izuna nodded “To protect my skin we would just have to activate the seal and that would be it.” Izuna nodded again “But the esthetic part works more like a chameleon skin; so, every imperfect part of my body had to be cover by a special cloth which it becomes invisible when the seal activates and it looks like I don’t have any imperfection. Do you understand know?”_

_“Yeah I think so. However, what I do not understand is why do you need my help, can’t you deactivate them yourself?” Tobirama looked a little bit uncomfortable at that._

_“Yes and no” Izuna frowned again “Any part of the skin cover by this special cloth has its chakra points cover, so without a lot of force I can really not use chakra” Izuna paled at that._

_“But… but you are defenseless! You cannot fight!” Tobirama snorted at that._

_“I can assure you that I can win you in a fight without any access to my chakra” Izuna just glared._

_“You wish Senju” He said smirking “You would not last a minute”_

_“Do you want to bet on that, Uchiha?”_

_“Sure, I do.”_

_“When this mission ends. Find me in the desert after they left me there. We will see” Izuna smiled and nodded at that._

_“All right, the loser pays for lunch as soon as we are out of the desert” Tobirama nodded._

_“Deal” Izuna was smiling and Tobirama was almost there, when Izuna realize something._

_“Wait, if you don’t have access to your chakra how can you still have your sensing abilities?” Tobirama seemed surprise at that question._

_“Oh, I do not have all my body cover. So, I expand my sense through those parts. My range is not as wide as at home. But it is enough” Izuna nodded at that._

_“Ok, that’s fascinating and all… but why did you show me this again?” Tobirama sighed like he was exasperated that he had to explain everything. But he really was not following._

_“The oils that they had apply on me I do not know if they could have damaged the cloth. So, I need you to deactivate the seals, I need to clean it, and later you will need to activate the seals again”_

_“Ooooohhh. That makes sense” Tobirama snorted a little at that “Soo, how do we deactivate this thing?” Tobirama then point to one part of the seal on his palm._

_“This is the beginning of the seal. You will have to drag the pull of chakra towards my elbow, always turning right when there is a node. That is the only way of deactivating it” Izuna nodded at that “Just go slowly. There is no hurry” Izuna nodded again._

_“All right, got it” he took carefully the arm in his hands and started by applying a little chakra at the beginning and carefully following the lines the way Tobirama had told him._

_It took them almost five minutes, because the seal was very difficult and also Izuna did not want to messed it up. He knew how dangerous could be to mess a seal. Not because he knew anything about them, but because of the stories he had been told about how dangerous was to memorize a seal and try to replicate them. Even with the sharingan._

_In the end, he was successfully and what happened next, even if the other boy had warmed him, it was an utterly surprise. The skin on Tobirama’ arms turned into some kind of cloth that was similar to silk but more elastic. The seals, instead of disappearing appeared as stitched over the strange cloth. It appeared as it was just unsticking itself from Tobirama’ body. Izuna looked from the arm, to the rest of the body. It was a white overall that cover all of his body, even the feet and the hands. He could understand the hands, because as shinobi they were cover in scar from training. However, what he could not understand was that the cloth covering him half of the face, letting him just uncover his hair and his eyes._

_Izuna just smirked at that._

_“I know that you are scary, but why does this thing reach so far?” he asked pointing to his nose. He did not seem to find it funny. He just sighted and took the cloth down. Izuna’ eyes almost get out of his sockets._

_There in his face were three perfect lines made by fire, because those scars could only be left by that kind of element. They looked to be so perfectly made that they must have been intended; however, he could not understand why someone would want to go through that to have such markings. He knew that some clans had their own markings and traditions but that did not mean he understood them._

_Tobirama got out of the estrange cloth and Izuna was amazed. He did not have markings just on his faces. He had them all over his body. The three lines on his faces were the beginnings of three paths that went down all over his body growing and thinning in some points. And it was beautiful. The markings were familiar, he had seen them somewhere else, but he could not really remember. Maybe in another Senju? Probably. However, he could not remember something so beautiful. If Tobirama looked dangerous before, know he looked ethereally beautiful, like a white tiger._

_“Do you have a problem with the scars?” Izuna blinked and realize that he had been staring._

_“Sorry, it’s just… it’s a really pretty pattern. Are they a clan marking?” Tobirama just shook his head._

_“I rather not talk about them” that caught Izuna by surprise, but he decided not to puss. He did not want to lose the little trust he had built._

_“Sure, but do they hurt?” Tobirama seemed to think about it. “Because you didn’t have it last time we met, did you?”_

_“Sometimes, some places they still hurt a little. And no, I did not have them. They are quite recent” Izuna just nodded at that, but he could see that the boy was uncomfortable just talking about it, so he decided to drop the subject all together._

_“Ok, we’ll be careful with those. Do you want me to clean the seal cloth?”_

_“No, don’t worry I’ll do it myself” Izuna just nodded and started to clean himself_

_Tobirama seemed grateful that the attention was no longer on himself and turned to clean the cloth. However, Izuna could not help but to keep staring from time to time to Tobirama’ markings. They really looked good on him; however, he could not find the memory in which he had seem something similar._

_When he was done cleaning himself and he was going to turn to ask Tobirama if he needed help with his back, the other boy turned to him._

_“Izuna, would you help with this part? It seemed that the oils had been apply with more force because they don’t seem to go”_

_“Sure” they spent cleaning the thing out of all the oils, almost one more hour. When they were able to finish and let the thing dry they cleaned themselves rather quickly and went to read a little before going to sleep. However, Tobirama did not seemed to be very concentrated, so in the end they just dried the cloth with some towels and he helped Tobirama to put it on again._

_Izuna then spent almost half an hour working the seal in the way Tobirama was telling him to be able to activate the seals again. After that they just went to sleep. Tobirama felt a little more distant that night, to the point that he did not reach to him. It seemed that the scar thing was a touchy subject. But in the end two hours after Izuna had fallen sleep he could feel Tobirama trembling, so he went to his futon and pressed himself against the other boy that seemed to calm down when he touched him._

* * *

_He woke up again before Tobirama did. However, he did all his duties smiling because the other boy, at some point during the night had turn around and hugged him back. He had to extract himself with all of his ninja abilities to not wake him up._

_He already knew how to do the Blessed Braid; he saw the novices did it the day before and he activated the sharingan… How does people learn things without it? It would take a lot of wasted time… hm… well that is not important now. The thing is he knew how to dress Tobirama and comb his hair; so, by the time the High priest arrived they were ready to start the day._

_So, in comparation to the previous situation, and maybe because he had not mention Tobirama’ real skin, the boy seemed less tense than the night before. However, now his eyes looked sad and almost as death as the first day. And Izuna decided to take a calculated risk and when they were walking down to the city, he touched the other’ wrist and when he turned to looked at him, he just smiled at Tobirama and griped the wrist harder before letting go. It did not seem to improve the mood, but at least he let the other knew that he was still there._

_The whole day was quite interesting and exciting. They visited a lot of talkative and adorable old people, all of them smiled at Tobirama and were pleasant enough. After that they visited the hospital and its different wings. There was one with a lot of soldiers, another one with mothers and newborns, another one with mix people and the last one, even if at first the High Priest had not wanted Tobirama to go, was less impressive and older. It was where the slaves were taken care. It was not dirty by any means, but some of those slaves weren’t there just because they were sick, some of them had suffer at their master’ hands and that seemed to anger Tobirama a little. The priests assure him that the slaves had been removed from those persons and they masters had been punished. But it was little consolation to the reality of the situation._

_They stopped to eat at one of the most prestigious inns of the capital. And to Izuna’ relieve, the slaves there share their food with him; because he really did not want to go back to the palace to ask for his share when it was almost inhumanly hot outside._

_It was a good day, even if the temperature was way too high for his liking. And he really hoped that the day kept being as good. It became better when they reached the orphanage. It was constructed close to the cliff of a canyon that protected the city from the east. The closeness to the rock, and being cover by a shadow the first half of the day made the place have a very nice temperature, so the kids could play outside almost all day. So, entering was heaven in comparation of the rest of the buildings they had visit._

_Tobirama looked a little tense upon finding himself surrender by kids, and Izuna assumed that maybe the albino did not like kids. Which he would completely understand, he really didn’t like kids either, they were cute and all, and civilian kids were normally dump, cried a lot and could not think farther than the next game. The only kids that he liked were his brothers._

_In the end he put himself as close as the protocol allowed him, so Tobirama could feel him at any moment. He did not know how big his range was right now, but he did not want to find himself out of it._

_At some point in the afternoon, Tobirama seemed to relax a little and he enjoyed his time there. He played with the kids and read them some easy stories. So, by the time he had to come back to the shrine to prepare everything for the evening, he was not worried about Tobirama: first mistake._

_He went back to clean the rooms, filled the bath with water and used a katon to create a fire under it to warm it. And he also went to fetch dinner and took out Tobirama sleeping robes._

_It was estranged that he had the time to prepare all of that without at least hearing the procession arriving. But he did not think a lot about it, because probably Tobirama had decided to stay a little longer with the kids: second mistake._

_He got worried when instead of a procession with all priest and Tobirama, a single slave came running to him._

_“The Blessed One has disappeared, you have been called by the High Priest” all of Izuna’ muscles tensed at that and he had to fight very very hard not to go running to find him. However, he ran to find the High Priest still at the orphanage._

_As soon as he arrived, he did a full courtesy._

_“Shigenari-sama, please allow this slave to try to find Shukufuku-sama” he said in the most formal way he could master._

_“Blessed Ones tend to do this.” He said like he had been expecting it “Tradition dictates that he must be found before sunrise” that was the only answer to his pleading._

_“Hai” he then allowed him to get up and point to a small baby with light brown hair that was crying in the arms of a nurse._

_“That boy was the last one to saw him” he took that as a dismissal and he got up to go to see the baby. It was a male baby with a strange scar in his left check._

_“It was made my fire” said the nurse when he kept staring at the strange marking. He just nodded, let his hair fall before his eyes to hide them and looked directly at the baby before activating the sharingan to enter the recent memory of the child:_

_The baby had start crying when he felt hunger. Like any other baby would. However, at that moment Tobirama was walking pass the door and he heart the cries. He entered with a very tense and painful expression in his face. And upon reaching the crib he started to hyperventilate, almost knock another crib trying to get away and run as fast as he could._

_He deactivated the sharingan and run in the same direction that Tobirama had run. As soon as he was out of sight, he started running at shinobi speed. Just a couple of miles away, in between two rocks in the little canyon of desert stones, where there was a little waterfall and puddle of water getting out from a subterranean river, Tobirama sat there almost out of air, soaked to the bone._

_Maybe he did not know how to cure someone with touch-starvation, but since with brother had started going to the battle field he had had a couple of panic attacks, and he was now a little expert in those. And Tobirama was suffering a panic attack._

_“Tobirama” he quietly said and the boy’ eyes snapped open “I’m going to get closer” he did not say anything. He kept staring at him for a couple of seconds, when suddenly a pained grunt escaped him and he drew more into himself, like he was trying to make himself smaller._

_He got closer to the boy until he was just a couple of inches away from him, starting to get wet himself because of the stream of water._

_“Tobirama” the other boy’ breaths were starting to get worse and more work up by the moment “I’m going to touch you” without waiting for the other boy to react, he touched his hand._

_Tobirama turned to look at him startled, like he just realized that he was there._

_“Izuna” he said almost out of breath._

_“I’m here. I’m not leaving. I’m going to help you” that seemed to broke the other boy._

_Tobirama suddenly started sobbing, which adding it to his already short breath, was not really good, if he continued like that he was going to lose consciousness because of the lack of oxygen. However, he unfolded himself in an attempted to hug Izuna and he did not hesitate. He let himself fall to sit on the bottom of the big puddle, so he was able to embrace Tobirama in the best way his short body allowed him. He stretched the albino against him as hard as he could and put him in between his legs; so, he could settle comfortably. He then let his back fall a little to be able to support himself with the wall of the canyon. It was then, when between the little breaths and the sobs he started to ramble uncontrollably:_

_“I couldn’t…” a hiccup “I couldn’t…” another one “I couldn’t save them” a broken sob “I couldn’t… I wasn’t fast enough… I’m… I’m…” another broken sob “they needed me…” another hiccup “I… I…” a broken sob “Oh Kami” and another one “they are gone” a hiccup “gone… they… they…” another broken sob “they were mine…” and another one “Mine to protect… and… and” I hiccup “I could not… I was not fast enough” a broken sob that was as terrible as was heartbreaking broke through the boy’ throat. And Izuna’ heart broke with the state Tobirama was in, with what he was reveling to him “I… I… I’m useless… I…” another hiccup “If I can’t protect them what use I have?” The only thing Izuna could do was hug him harder and Tobirama stopped talking and just cried murmuring to himself. “My fault…they… gone…”_

_“Tobirama, I need you to breath with me all right? Just breathing” The other kept crying and murmuring, but Izuna kept talking “breath in” he breathed in a very exaggerate way “Breath out” he did it again exaggerating the gesture “one”. He kept reaping the process counting every time he finished the process until he reached ten; and then he started again._

_Tobirama did not react to the first pack of ten. However, he started to try to follow Izuna’ breathing the second time around, with little success. When they reached the fourth or the fifth time they had count to ten, Tobirama, even if he was still sobbing, he was breathing better and even counting with Izuna. Izuna counted to ten another time, without instructing him how to breath, just doing it a letting the other boy followed him._

_When they were done, they sat there in silence. It was already night time, but it really did not seem to matter. Tobirama rested his head on Izuna’ left shoulder and Izuna started to pet his wet hair._

_It was in that careful moment of quietness that Izuna realize what had happened. Maybe the short breath and probably the chest pain had been part of the panic attack; but those sobs were not. Those heartbreaking cries had been pure and unadulterated grieve. A grieve that must have been festering inside of him and he had not allowed it to disappear, and he needed it to let it go._

_“Tobirama” the other boy turned a little his head, probably to looked at him, but he could not look at the other boy. This needed to be a private moment for him and he was not going to made him the disservice of looking at him. “You need to let it go” that seemed to surprise the other boy “If you don’t grieve it is going to fester inside of you and it is going to end up destroying you” Tobirama took his cloths in between his finger, like he was afraid he was going to pushed him away “I’m not going to let you fall. I’ll held you through it. But you need let go” another sob made him go back to look down and he tried to get closer to him, if that was possible._

_“I don’t know how” he was able to murmur “I’m the perfect soldiers. I’m just a weapon, I’m only the blade my head of clan will wield. I’m not supposed to feel, I’m not supposed to mourn” He hugged him harder if that was possible._

_“Who the hell told you that bullshit?” he said trying to keep all the anger out of his voice, but it was really hard._

_“My father” Izuna’ eyes opened so much they almost got out of his sockets._

_“Your father is a fucking monster”_

_“No, he…” but Izuna interrupted him. He really could not bear to hear him defending such an individual._

_“Shut up” he really was doing a superhuman effort not to go a try to kill the bastard “He’s not important right now. You are. Just you. Forget about him” Tobirama seemed to be listening to him because he nodded and readjusted his hold on him “If you don’t know how to grieve. I’m going to show you.”_

_“You’ve already lost someone?” the other murmured and Izuna felt the tears on his eyes at that._

_“My little brother” he was able to say without sounding like he was going to cry._

_“You told me. He was murdered” Izuna nodded again. “And were you able to forget about him?” Izuna just shook his head._

_“No, it hurts when I remember him. But every time it hurts a little less”, He inhaled very deeply trying to not let go his own tears, because this was about Tobirama, not him. “My aunt has told me that as long as I mourn them and remember them a little from time to time the pain would start to go away”_

_“Show me how to do that” Tobirama murmured again and Izuna inhaled once, to be able to swallow the lump in his throat._

_“Mum says that it helps to talk about them. But you don’t have to if you don’t want me to know. Just think about them. Think about the happy or pleasant memories you have of them” After that they were again surrendered by the silence. The night was making the water cooler, but they did not seem to realize that. It wasn’t until almost half an hour of silence that Tobirama broke it._

_“Their names ar…” sob “were… their names were Itama and Kawarama” Izuna just nodded “They ar… were” sob “they were my little brothers” Izuna readjusted the hold to try to hugged more of him “they were mine in a way… in a way no one else had been” he sobbed for a couple of minutes before he could continue “After Okasan died I found Kawarama crying… there was no one there to take care of them, so… so I did” Izuna throat become painfully tight again. “I would feed them and sing them to sleep” another sob “their first word was… was nii-san” after that he cry for a couple of minutes almost as desperately as before “they trusted me to keep them safe and I wasn’t there” another sob._

_“Try remembering the good things Tobirama” he whispered._

_“How can I remember that when the only think that I can think of is the terror Itama was feeling while I was trying to reach him?” Shit, Izuna had forgot that he was a sensor. He had heard a rumor that said that very sensitive and proficiency sensors were able to sense emotions; it looked like they were not rumors anymore. “I felt three Uchi… shinobis…” Izuna interrupted him._

_“Uchihas, they were Uchihas?” Tobirama was silent for a moment before he nodded. “Shit.” He breathed a couple of times “Child-hunters” Tobirama got back to cry again a he desperately hugged him more. “I’m so sorry Tobirama.” He said hugging him more._

_“You did not kill him.” Tobirama whispered. “I killed them” Izuna’ eyes opened a lot. He knew that some of the squads of the Child-hunters had a first stage mangekyo. Very weak, but powerful enough to create an amateratsu flame…_

_“Your scars” he said without realizing it “Those are amateratsu’ markings” One line for each child hunter. Tobirama sobbed a little more._

_“I don’t know what happened. I saw Itama dead and I think I went berserk.” Izuna brow almost reached his hair line “When I came back to myself, I was naked, cover in their blood with those scars on my skin and their bodies were cold.”_

_“Holy Amateratsu. You were able to hold your own against three mangekyus.” then he remembered they should not be talking about those things “Let’s not talk about your brother’ murders. Tell me about them. What did they like?” Tobirama nodded at that and he spent at least ten minutes in silence. Probably thinking._

_“Kawarama was a little more like me. He was a little genius that loved to read” his breathing was still bad because of the sobs “when he realized that I could not, he started to read me out loud” he let out a couple of sobs “Itama was a gentle soul. He wanted peace and to become a healer” his sobs were coming back, but not in the desperate way it had been before “Do you know I don’t know how Kawarama looked like?” Izuna was confused by that “I was almost blind, and he died a month before they fixed my sight” the sobs were starting to come back and Izuna was not sure if he would be able to keep his tears at bay “Oto-sama did not order his picture to be taken… and the only think I can remember is the feel of his skin and his chakra and his voice… and… and… sometimes I think I can’t remember even that” His sobs came back full force and it seemed that he was not able to stop, even Izuna was crying with him now. “And now the only thing I can remember of Itama is his terror while he was murdered alone” after that the albino did not say anything, and Izuna could not bring himself to make the other boy keep talking. Because he kept coming back to Itama’ death, and maybe that moment was not the best to press more. He thought it had been enough for one day. He must be emotionally drained._

_And Izuna was not very far from the truth. Tobirama was so tired that a half an hour later he fell sleep still clutching Izuna. When Izuna was able to stopped his own tears, he cleaned his face with the water and got up with Tobirama in his arms._

_He decided right there that even if it kill him, he was going to help Tobirama to survive that. He did not know how he was going to do it; he didn’t know what it was going to cost him. But he didn’t care. For some reason that boy had cross paths with him and he was not going to let him go that easily._

_He carried Tobirama to the little shrine, dried him, dressed him in his sleeping robes a put him inside his futon. He even gave Tobirama his pillow while he went to inform the High Priest._

_He arrived to the man’ quarters and he received him still in his work cloths._

_“Did you find him?”_

_“Hai, Shigenari-sama. Shukufuku-sama sleeps right now in his room”_

_“Good. This is your real job. Do you understand?” Izuna was confused._

_“Not really Shigenari-sama”_

_“Having our Deity in one’ head, makes the Blessed Ones weak and they are a prone to have break downs.” ‘Or maybe choosing albinos randomly and taking them from their home is a traumatic enough experience, without taking into account their own trauma because of the albinism, so maybe they are prone to have breakdown because of that you moron’ thought Izuna, but did not say a thing “However, it seems that a connection between a Blessed One and his slave tends to be strong enough that they become their anchor.” ‘or maybe, having someone that takes care of them makes them trust them enough to help them, idiot’ but again Izuna thought but did not said a thing. However, he was very tempted to do it. “That was why it is so important to find a slave to serve the Blessed One. Do you understand know?_

_“Hai, Shigenari-sama”_

_“Good, Go and do not leave his side” ‘I wasn’t planning on doing anything else’. “Tomorrow, we would not be in need of the Blessed One presence. Let’s give him a day to recover”_

_“Hai, Shigenari-sama” and he got up and left._

_He almost run back to Tobirama. When he was able to see that the boy had not wake up in his absence, he cleaned himself quickly, put on his sleeping robes and got inside Tobirama’ futon and hug the boy. As soon as he was touching him Tobirama hugged him back and looked like he had reached a more peaceful state of sleepiness._

_The next day they would deal together with this mess_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo now you now why it was emotionally draining... Let me tell you that I almost cry a couple of time while writting; because I tried to think everything from Tobirama point of view to make the reactions and the conversation more realistic, and it has been a little hard. Poor baby.
> 
> Also, I've never experience a panic attack myself; however I've seem a lot of them on television and I have investigated about them. However if you think that I wrote it wrong I would not mind if you let me know so I can make it more realistic.
> 
> Well I hope you liked it.
> 
> It would be awesome and I would love to read any comment you would like to leave about the story.
> 
> Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9: Izuna' day off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little talk with Madara and the day after the breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you for your beautiful comments and for your awesome kudos.❤️❤️  
> I’m really sorry that I’m later than usual. The thing is I was on a little vacation and I thought I would have time to write a little on the afternoons buuuuut… I really didn’t. I kept getting these ideas in my head, but I could not write them, until today.
> 
> Another thing I wanted to tell you is that my classes are going to start this week and I’m not going to have as much as time as before to write. DON’T WORRY, I’M NOT STOPPING WRITING! It’s just that I’m going to update less. I would love to write every day but an engineering degree is already time consuming enough on its own, and I won’t let my studies aside to write. STUDIES ARE IMPORTANT. However, I think I’ll be able to organize my time so I’ll be able to write and update a little each week. So, I’m making my goal to update every Monday ^.^. that way I have the weekend to write if I was not able to xD and that way you would have a nice surprise at the beginning of the week.
> 
> (When I wrote the tittle of the chapter It came to me the movie of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Awesome movie by the way xD)
> 
> That said. I hope you liked this chapter, which was written faster than the rest so probably there would be more errors than usual xD

PRESENT

Izuna' age: 19 years.

Madara' age: 23 years

Madara was in some kind of state of shock. He really didn’t know how to take all of the revelations the story was showing him. It really was as if he was telling him the story of a completely different person. Because, he knew that before the mission he had already seen Tobirama a couple of times on the battlefield and he had trouble remembering both Tobirama as the same person.

He looked at his brother when he realized he had stop speaking and he had turned himself to Tobirama to hug him. Probably as he had done years ago at the Wind Diamiyo shrine.

“Izuna?” he whispered not wanting to disturb his brother, but he was kind of worried that his brother had stop telling the story without finishing it. His brother turned to him without stopping to hug the other man.

“Back then, I did not know the half of it” He said and Madara waited for his brother to understand “and Amateratsu, it is horrible.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Madara starting to lose his patience at his brother’ theatric.

“When I had to get into his head” Madara nodded, remembering the mission he had to do a couple of months ago, when he had to get inside of Tobirama’ head to save him “Well, I realize how deep the grieve had been for Tobirama at that time” he made a pause because he had to think how he was going to tell his brother and Madara waited for him “It was as if he had lost his sons”

“What”

“Tobirama once said to be that he had to take care of them, to feed them, to hug them when they were afraid, to sing them to sleep. He also showed them to talk and to walk. He…

“He told you that?” Madara said kind of surprised. Izuna just smiled.

“Yeah, he told me so many things about them that at some point I start to mourn not have been able to meet them.” Madara looked surprised at that “The thing is he become their mother Madara, and at some point, along the way his love became stronger than just a brotherly love. Even if he did not realize this at the time, he started to love them as fiercely as if he was their mother. And when he lost both of them, it almost destroyed him.”

Madara looked down at the other man with a different kind of expression. He remembered his mother. A strong woman and a strong kunoichi that had trained them and loved them fiercely enough that when his younger brother was killed it was said that she gain the mangekyu for a couple of minutes. However, her rage become an eternal grieve that never seemed to leave her. And when the twins were killed in battle, she became a mere corpse and she start refusing to eat and she was afraid to sleep. In the end her own grieve killed her a couple of months after the twins died. She still had two sons alive, Izuna and him, but she had not found the will to live even for them. So, if Tobirama had been really their mother, how had he survived the death of all of “his sons”? If a mother’ pain was so strong and lethal how was he still standing?

“How?” Izuna looked at him funny.

“How it almost destroys him?” Madara shook his head.

“How did he survive?” Izuna looked at Tobirama “Was it because of what you did on that mission?” Izuna went back to look at his brother.

“I like to believe that even without me he would have survive. I think that I only helped to make the pain… you know lees painful”

“You are eloquent as ever Outoto” if Izuna had been able he would have through his pillow at his brother, so instead he just glared at him and Madara just grinned.

“Tobirama is really strong you know.” That seemed to bring him brother back to Tobirama’ topic “When that happened, he focused on his last remaining brother. And probably in the rest of his clan, and made it his mission to protect them.”

“That is a good copying technic” Izuna seemed to grimace at that.

“Yeah well… I suppose…” Izuna did not look very convince so Madara waited for him to explain himself “Right now that isn’t important, but Aniki, there is a reason I don’t trust the Senjus” Madara frowned. He already new that his brother did not trust them; but after hearing this story he thought it was all just a front to cover his friendship with the white Senju.

“But you trust Tobirama” he said stating the fact.

“Yeah” Izuna did not say anything more, because he really was not going to justify himself at that moment. Because if he did not tell the story of his friendship with Tobirama in the right order his brother would not understand why he develop such and why he ended up trusting the albino. “Let’s go back to the mission. I still have too much to tell you”

Madara looked out of the window. The sun was already out, but the compound was not as awake as normally. This was because after every battle the Uchihas always took the day off to be able to sleep as much as they could, to recover from injuries or to morn in peace. So, it was safe to say that they would not be disturb yet.

“All right”

* * *

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_Izuna woke up because of how hot he was feeling. He was comfortable and in any normal situation he wouldn’t mind the temperature. He was used to sleep with three brothers in the same futon; he really did not mind the temperature. However, there was a heavy fabric very close to his mouth and nose, and the warm air was bouncing back to his face and that was really uncomfortable._

_He opened his eyes to found that the futon had adopted a very weird form, and somehow at some point during the night some of it had end up on his face. So, using his free arm he took it out of his face and that revel that just under his chin was Tobirama’ hair. The boy was still fiercely hugged to him, his face must be some where in his chest, oen of his hands were hugging his hip and the other one was grasping his shirt. Their legs were intertwined around the knees and their feet were out of the futon because of how much it had moved during the night._

_Tobirama started to stir as soon as Izuna took his arm from above him. So, as soon as he did not have the futon on his face he put it back on. Tobirama seemed to relax a little but not as much._

_“Five more minutes” murmured Tobirama and the warm air touched his upper belly. The other boy sounded as if he was still sleep; like he was talking in dreams._

_“Let’s go back to sleep” murmured Izuna trying to not wake him up._

_“Yeaaah” Izuna smiled at the childish speech of Tobirama, trying not to laugh. It really was not like him and it was really cute. “I was having a good dream” Tobirama was definitely sleeping, his ability to vocalize was becoming worse each second._

_“Yeah?” Izuna could not resist to keep him talking like this “What was about?”_

_“It was about you” it was a little pause before… “mom” that left Izuna a petrified. Tobirama was dreaming with his mother “You hugged me while I cried” Tobirama hugged him stronger and the other did the same “No one hit me for…” Tobirama speech became so bad that Izuna did not understood the rest but he got the idea. His arms started to trembled trying to not let any killing intend out. Tobirama’ father was a dead man walking. He sworn he had his days counted._

_After that Tobirama stopped speaking and looked like he went back to sleep. Izuna still thinking of all the ways he had been taught that a human could be killed, followed Tobirama into the dream land._

* * *

_Next time Izuna woke up, the sun wasn’t really high, but it was still pretty late for his schedule. He had woken up because Tobirama had stirred and was starting to wake up. He was trying to stretch himself without breaking his hold on him; which was kind of funny._

_After a couple of movements, he seemed to realize where he was and who he was grasping because he released him. However, Izuna just kept hugging him._

_“What are you doing?” Tobirama said slowly with a voice heavy with sleep._

_“Hmmm” Izuna turned a little more towards Tobirama without opening his eyes and relocate himself a little to keep hugging the other boy “Morning” he felt Tobirama turned his head toward his._

_“Would you release me?” Tobirama said and Izuna because he was a little shit and he thought that the albino needed all the love he could get he hugged him harder._

_“Hhhhm… Why?”_

_“Because I need to relieve myself” Izuna almost snorted at that, because he had gone back to the almost formal and adult speech. And against his wishes he released him._

_“I’m gonna get us some breakfast” Izuna said before the other disappeared from the room._

_Tobirama did not say anything but he really was not waiting for one. He got up, smoothed the futon, but he did not put it away. If they were going to have a lazy day, they could spend it at a comfy surface._

_After that he run to the kitchen and asked for Tobirama’ breakfast. If he had woken up earlier, he could have had breakfast, but at the moment no one would give him food until lunch. It was one of the bad things about having to play the part of a slave; he could not break character._

_When he came back, Tobirama had not yet returned; but he supposed that was normal. Probably he needed time to composed himself. Yesterday had been really hard for him. He brought the table inside of the bedroom and started to set the food on it. He was so concentrated doing that and thinking about the previous day that he did not heard Tobirama entered and when he talked, he jumped. Thank Amateratsu he only had the chopsticks on his hand._

_“What are you doing?” Izuna turned still trying to calm his heard. Tobirama just raised one eyebrow._

_“Holy Amateratsu, didn’t heard you come” Izuna said “I’m just setting breakfast. Hungry?”_

_“Not really” he said sitting in front of the table anyway “It’s late” he just said as a matter of fact._

_“Yeah… I know. They didn’t give any breakfast at the Kitchen… those assholes” he then put a funny voice that really did not have anything to do with the Kitchen slave “If you wanted to have breakfast you should have come when you should. Know your place” He then growled “Sooooo, can I take some of yours? Just a little bit” He then put his best puppy eyes. Tobirama looked almost amused at that._

_“Sure” he said pushing the food in his direction. Izuna just sat next to him and took it “When I said it was late, I meant that we should be at the Shrine by now”_

_“OOhh” Izuna had his mouth full of rice, so the sound of him speaking was weird. He swallowed before talking again “Yesterday, after you fall asleep, Shigenari-sama told me that you had the day off. Soo, lazy day.” He said grinning._

_Tobirama seemed to relaxed at that and Izuna kept eating. He only ate half of some of the food before putting everything back in front of Tobirama._

_“Eat something at least” he said and the other boy looked at him funny “You are waaay too thin. So, eat” at that Tobirama snorted a little, but he did as told “There, if my grandma saw you he would force you to feed until you had enough meat to pinch” Tobirama looked him once before going back to his food._

_“She sounds like my aunt” he said after a couple of seconds “After mum died, she kept bringing casseroles for us”_

_“She sounds awesome. I bet it was delicious” Tobirama nodded at that._

_“Yeah. Except when she experiments. She can follow a recipe and bring it to perfection. However, when she try something knew… that could be used as poison” Izuna laughed at that. He could imagine Tobirama trying to be polite about it and failing miserably._

_“Oh Amateratsu. What do you do with those?” Tobirama was drinking his miso soup so Izuna waited patiently for him to finish._

_“If we were fortunate enough that she just brought it and left, we would mix it with dirt and use it as fertilizer. At first, we tried to give it to the pigs, but not even them could it. However, it really does wonders to the soil.” Izuna laugh again and Tobirama almost smiled a little._

_“That’s awesome. And what about your grandmas?” Tobirama thought about it while he was chewing._

_“I never thought about it… but I really never met them” both of Izuna’ eyebrows went up. “My mum and aunt came from another clan, and after she died there had not been any communication with them, and my dad’ parents died a couple of year before I was born”_

_“And doesn’t your aunt get in contact with her family?” Tobirama seemed surprised at that._

_“Not really no” he looked like he was thinking “I think it is because she was a bastard child of my grandfather”_

_“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard that some clans don’t appreciate bastards” at that Tobirama looked at him surprised._

_“Yours do?” Izuna nodded._

_“Well, it is not encouraged, because it is still better to have kids after you know… after you have married. But they are called the children of the clan. Grandma says that is because Amateratsu love every life equally. But Aniki says that is because we can not let anyone get the sharingan.” Tobirama nodded at that. “I think it is a bit of both, probably” Tobirama snorted at that “Ey, don’t laugth I don’t like to think either of them is wrong”_

_“They don’t have to be. I mean it makes sense that at some point the clan realize that doujutsu thieves would try to breed the sharingan instead of taking them from one of your clan. So, to try to explain such a change in the mentality… the easiest why would be through a religious believe.” Izuna was looking him funny._

_“Yeah I supposed…” he said and looked and Tobirama “it’s weird when you sound like a grown up” Tobirama furrowed his brow, but Izuna smiled “you get really serious, but don’t worry with eyes as big as yours you still look funny” Izuna snorted at the end and Tobirama relaxed._

_“Maybe It is just because I’m smarter that you”_

_“Hey! I’m smart enough” Tobirama snorted at that to himself “But yeah, I think that you are really smart. Not as smart as aniki, but almost there” Both of Tobirama’ brows went up to his hair line “Yeah, no one is as smart as aniki.”_

_“You said smart four times in the same breath” he said setting aside his chopsticks, because he had finished eating._

_“And what?” Izuna stuck out his tongue and Tobirama smiled._

_Because it didn’t look like they were going to say anything more, Izuna got up and put all the empty plates on the tray to get it back to the kitchen. It was going to be a little uncomfortable because the sun was high enough to be hot outside, bet he could cool down after it._

_Before he could get up Tobirama got Izuna wrist and he turned to looked at the other. He looked like he was really thinking about what he was going to say._

_“Amm” Izuna let the tray on the table and went back to sit next to Tobirama “I just..” the albino was not looking him in the eye; and Izuna could guessed he was nervous “Thank you about yesterday. It…” The hand around his wrist squeezed a little more and Tobirama looked to the tray of food before closing his eyes “It’s embarrassing to think of how I broke down” so he was embarrassed, not nervous, Izuna thought “but you…”_

_“I didn’t care” at that Tobirama looked at him in the eye “It shouldn’t be embarrassing to need to grieve Tobirama. I don’t care how many times you need to cry I won’t think any less of you.”_

_“But you didn’t need to…” he still looked like the embarrassment was not letting him talk “to hold me. You are… you are supposed to be my enemy” Izuna snorted at that._

_“You once told me ‘You hate my clan, all right. But why me?’. Our clans may be enemies. But you and I, we are not enemies Tobirama. We’ve already gone through this”_

_“Ok, but… you still hold me while I cried. Only my brothers and my mother had done that. Why would you do that?” Izuna smiled._

_“Yesterday I hugged you because you needed it. Because you needed a friend Tobi” he looked startled at that “We can be friends if you like”_

_“I would never betray my clan for you” he said too fast._

_“Well, yeah. I won’t either. We can be both”_

_“What if one day I had to kill an Uchiha” Izuna seemed surprised at that he looked to the side._

_“I don’t know…”_

_“The idea is not viable” Izuna looked back again to Tobirama._

_“Ok, yeah it’s stupid. But we could be at least during this mission.” Tobirama looked at him funny. “As long as we are here our clans don’t matter that much, do they?”_

_“I supposed that is true” Izuna smiled at that._

_“Then we will be friends until the end of the mission” Tobirama looked surprised at that but nodded._

_“I’ve never had a friend outside my family”_

_“Oh, it almost better, I promise” Tobirama almost smiled._

_“All right” Izuna nodded and got up again._

_“Don’t move. I’m going to bring this to the kitchen. And then we can just hang around the rest of the day” he did not wait for Tobirama to answer, he just run to the kitchen._

_When he came back the albino was still where he left him. He put the table on the other room and the futon behind the other boy._

_“What…?” Tobirama tried to question him, but he just tackled him to the floor and they both rolled on the futon._

_“Lazy day!” he screamed and Tobirama snorted._

_“Are we supposed to lay here all day?”_

_“Naaah, but a lazy day is to do nothing” Tobirama snorted at that. “So, tell me, if we are friends, we need to know important things about each other” Tobirama looked to tense a little at that._

_“Like what?”_

_“Likeeee… What’s your favorite color?” Tobirama snorted again, smiled and relaxed._

_They spent a very big part of the day talking. Well, Izuna mostly talked and asked things and Tobirama answer them. At some point they started to tell a couple of things and funny stories about their families, without saying any names and trying to be vague about the things that could be used against the other’ clan._

_After lunch they decided to use the free time to practice Tobirama’ reading. Well, they didn’t decide anything; Tobirama asked to do it because it seemed like he could not be still for a long time; but Izuna really didn’t mind._

_After a couple of hours, when Izuna was too bored to continue practicing his calligraphy, he had just lay down and rested his head on Tobirama’ legs. The other boy was reading one of the poems and Izuna was just there in case Tobirama make a mistake. But so far, the other boy was doing pretty good. When the albino finished reading the poem, he did not continue with the next one. Izuna looked at him and Tobirama looked to be in a very deep though._

_“Kawarama would have liked you” that surprised Izuna to the point of muteness. Tobirama looked down at him and he must had realized how surprised he was “You said that talking about them would help, didn’t you?”_

_“Yeah… yes. I’m listening” he said trying to get up, but Tobirama’ arms were on the way, so he just lay there and Tobirama went back to look at the poem._

_“It’s just that… while I was reading… I thought about Kawarama and… how much I would have loved… “his voice broke a little and Izuna looked up again to find that the other boy had tears in his eyes. He just took his free hand and squeezed it. “ I would have loved to read to him, like he did to me…” Tobirama swallowed and he cleared his throat “And for a moment I imagined you were him and later I thought that you would probably had been good friends with him if you two had met.” Tobirama was trying really hard not to let the tears fall, which it wasn’t really good for him, but at least he was talking._

_“He was the one that was more like you, wasn’t he?” Tobirama nodded “Then I’m sure we could have been friends.” He made a little pause and he tried to make him talk a little bit more “Tell me a little bit more about him” Tobirama looked down at him a little surprised. When he looked down, the tears fell and he took them out with the sleeve of his yukata. It took him a couple of minutes but Izuna just smiled to encourage him._

_“Well… He was de loudest baby you had ever seem…” Izuna snorted at that “ I swear I could hear him being hungry from the other side of the compound” Tobirama looked like he wanted to smiled a little “but he never cried when Itama started crying” Izuna moved a bit his head to look interested “Some nights were horrible; because when I was able to calm them enough to sleep, if Kawarama suddenly started crying, Itama would follow. However, if Itama started crying, Kawa-kun would turn and try to calm him. It was as if he did not want to hear his brother in distress. He did the same when he grew up.” Tobirama started to pass his fingers through Izuna’ hair and that seemed to relax him a little so he did not comment on it “He became a very quiet child when he was around three. But he still tried to take care of us. It was as if he could feel when we were in distress”_

_“He sounds really sweet” Tobirama snorted at that and cleaned again his tears._

_“He was a little shit. He loved to prank and he was rude but just to the people that were mean to us” Tobirama paused a couple of seconds and Izuna squeezed again his hand “Some people in the clan do no like how I look, and sometimes they had said things… and well… Kawarama prank them a lot”_

_“And your father did not say anything to them?” Tobirama snorted._

_“I was born with red eyes. Some of them think that I’m a bad omen.”_

_“The people in your clan is just stupid”_

_“Hey! Just some of them” Izuna looked at him not really believing._

_“And I think I would have liked Kawarama a lot. I would have help him prank those idiots” Tobirama smiled at that._

_“Yeah, it would have been a disaster for the clan. Maybe it’s a good thing we are from enemy clans” Izuna hit him on the shoulder._

_“That was just mean” but Tobirama almost smile was worth it._

_“Yeah it was a little” and then, he went to take the tears from his eyes. It took him almost a minute, because when he was going to start talking the tears appeared again “I don’t think I’ll be able to keep talking about them” Izuna got up quick and took the other boy in his arms._

_“Hey, it’s all right. You did awesome Tobi.” The albino relaxed in his arms and let himself be hugged. “A little bit everyday” he felt him nodded. They stay there a couple of minutes, just letting Tobirama get himself under control. But when he felt that the other boy was starting to get too comfortable, enough to fall asleep, he gave him a couple of little slaps on the back “Come, let’s go to have a relaxing bath. And I’ll tell you the one time my big brother fell on the koi pond in the middle of winter” Tobirama snorted at that and then nodded._

_Tobirama made the water appeared with a jutsu so Izuna did not have to go fetch it and Izuna warm the bathroom in no time._

_They took a long bath in which at the end Izuna was laughing at his own stories and Tobirama was at least smiling at how stupid they were. After that they just had dinner and went to sleep. Again, at the same futon._

_All in all, it had been a good day, they would have to see how the next day would be._

(And yes Aniki, I told him the story about the pond)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it ^.^. Sometimes I fell like I make Izuna’ speech too child like to be able to see a different between his and Tobirama’ xD but well he still is a little shit.
> 
> Also, The grandma comments its just something that came to me today; I can’t stop thinking about my gramps these days, because of the pandemic and how they are more vulnerable and how I hope they keep been ok. And I also thought it would be fun that Madara and Izuna’ grandma would be still alive. I think I’ll use her in future chapters…. Hehehe xD  
> Well I hope all of you are ok with this mess we have about the COVID, and if not, I hope I could send you a little of strength with this little new chapter.
> 
> Please, leave comments and kudos if your liked it ^.^❤️❤️


	10. Chapter 10: Izuna' end of the mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuna is going to tell Madara how the end of the Wind Mission went

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Everyone! I hope you had an awesome weekend, I know that I did ^.^.
> 
> Thank you for you comments and kudos ^.^, they made me smile.
> 
> Sooo, Taking this whole week on consideration I think that I will be able to organize my time so I have time to writte a chapter each week. What I cannot promise is that the length of the chapters would be always as long. But I'll try ^.^
> 
> I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy!

PRESENT

Izuna' age: 19 years.

Madara' age: 23 years

“And that was how he agreed to be my friend” Izuna said smiling to his big brother.

“Just temporarily” Izuna glared at Madara.

“Baby steps aniki, do you know how stubborn and dense he can be?”

“I’m starting to realize it, yeah” Madara said “Well, what happened after that? Did he change his mind the next day?” Izuna snorted.

“One thing that you need to start realizing is that Tobirama would never back down from something.” Izuna said smiling “It did bite me a couple of time in the ass until I realize it”

“So, you two became friends bounding over stories of your brothers” Izuna nodded at that.

“And about ourselves” Izuna looked down at Tobirama before looking back at his brother “That is why I’m going to skip the details in the next part of the story”.

“Wait, why?” Madara looked surprised at that. His brother hadn’t had any problem before sharing all the details.

“Well, because Tobirama told me a lot of things about himself, private stuff. Your noisy nose does not need to know.” Izuna said and Madara frowned at that.

“So, after telling me all of those things about his brothers, about a panic attack because of how his father educated him, about the marks on his own skin; now you won’t tell ‘private stuff’” Madara made quotation marks with his fingers at the last two words and Izuna just glared at him like he was an idiot.

“Don’t be obtuse aniki. It doesn’t suit you” Madara looked indignant at Izuna’ comment “I’ve told you what you need to know so you understand”

“Well, what I was able to gather was that the father was an asshole. But his father had been dead for years now”

“That was all you got out of this story?” Izuna had that look on his face that made Madara believe he was missing something “Where was your dear friend when Tobirama was suffering because he could not grieve?” Izuna looked indignant “Let me tell you were he was. You can ask him yourself if you want” Izuna almost hissed “he was accusing Tobirama of not loving their brothers; just because he did not cry at the funeral…”

It looked like Izuna was going to continue aggressively talking. However, there was a knock on the door and he stopped abruptly.

“Yeah?” asked Madara turning to look at the door. Izuna took a deep breath to calm himself. At least he did not have a lot of time to get too work up.

“Madara-sama” It was Hikaku “I could not help but notice that you have yet to eat something” Hikaku’ tone was a perfect mix between a berating mother and an exasperated sibling tired of having to act as the responsible adult “I know you are worried about Izuna, but you need to eat” Madara glared at the door.

“I’ll go to get something in a bit” he said quickly not wanting the other one to enter in the room.

“Yeah, I suspected you would say something like that, Madara-sama” Izuna smiled at their cousin antics “So I’ve already prepared a tray with food, and I brought it with me. You just need to open the door and take it” Izuna almost laughed at his brother’ face. He really loved his cousin; he did not put up with any of their bullshit.

Madara groaned, but got up and went to the door. He opened it in a way that all off his body and his hair cover the inside of the room and glared at his cousin. However, the other one seemed already too use to Madara’ grumpiness because he sounded like he was politely smiling.

“Good Morning Madara-sama, here is your breakfast” Madara said something but Izuna did not catch it, but he suspect was something along the lines of ‘morning, thanks’.

“You are welcome. So…” he sounded a little more serious after that “How is Izuna doing? Is he…? Will…?” He sounded really worried there and Izuna wanted to say something, but at that moment with Tobirama sleeping beside him, was not really the best option. But his brother stopped him before he could continue talking.

“He is going to make it”

“Oh, Thanks Amateratsu” Izuna smiled.

“Right now it is not a good timeto see him. But I promise you that I’ll call you as soon as it is”

“Sure”  
“How is the rest of the clan?”

“Otake made it through the night and the medics believe she will be out of danger by lunch time.” That would mean that the last battle would not have caused any death.

“That’s good. Thanks, Hikaku”

“My pleasure Madara”

They said goodbye to each other and after that Madara entered with a tray of food on his hands.

“Ok, you need to start making this story a little quicker. There is not much time left” Izuna nodded at that. “You were accusing Hashirama of being a bad brother”

“Not a bad brother as if he was cruel.” Izuna was quick to reassure. He really did not want to make his brother close himself, so he redirect the conversation “But… how could he not see that Tobirama was suffering Aniki?” Madara really did not have a good answer for that “I was able to see it. He was supposed to protect his younger brothers. How could he not…?” Izuna stopped himself and breathed deeply again. He knew that if he got in this argument he would not stop and his brother just told him to hurry up “I don’t want to lose time with this. But think about it aniki” Madara nodded at that “Let’s go back to the Wind mission…”

“After you two became friends” Madara said.

“Yeah. But we will skip a couple of weeks” Izuna said “Because from that point on all days were almost the same… we would wake up, do our duties, go to the shrine, came back, take a bath, read, talk, sleep, and everything again” Izuna made grabby hands to the pot with water and his brother passed it to him with a smile. After drinking he continue “The important part of those weeks, was how Tobirama bit by bit started to open up to me. He confessed a couple of things; I share a couple of other. We talked about our hobbies, our likes and dislikes. We really got to know each other. And he also, bit by bit told me about his little brothers, and bit by bit he started grieving like he should have done before. He had a couple of panic attacks; because somedays were not good, other days he didn’t even try to talk, and others he would talk until he fall asleep.”

“So, the rest of the mission was like that?”

“Yeah, almost all of it” Izuna smiled “Those days are one of my most precious memories”

“And what happened after that? When the mission ended.” Asked Madara.

“Well, when the Blessed braid was one knot from being complete, the Diamiyo died”

“How long did it take?” Izuna thought about, like trying to count the time.

“Like two months since the first Blessed knot. You should have to see how fast Tobirama’ hair grew.” Izuna said smiling “by that time his hair was passing his knees” Madara opened his eyes and looked at the albino. He really could not imagine that “I do have a photo of him to prove it” Izuna said smiling from ear to ear.

“You do?” Izuna nodded again “How?”

“When a Blessed braid is complete, they take a photograph of the Blessed One to hang them on the memory hall. I might have bribed the photographer” Izuna could not stop smiling “and maybe, one day, I’ll show you” Madara just glared at him.

“Yeah. Whatever”

“But well, around the time the Diamiyo died, there was not much to do. Almost the whole country was in favor of letting the twins take the throne. Even the heir was ready to give the crown to his half-siblings.”

“Really?” That really surprised Madara.

“Yeah, I don’t know if Tobirama did something. But one day, the heir came by the shrine and he asked to talk with the Blessed One. Tobirama spent almost half of the day talking to him. After that he came regularly to just chat.” Madara looked really surprised at that “One day I asked Tobirama about it, and he said…”

* * *

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_“I just helped him realize what he wanted in life” Tobirama was having dinner while Izuna was sitting in front of him, already with a full belly but that did not stop him from stealing beans just to annoy the other boy._

_“What do you mean?” Tobirama looked at him like he was debating with himself, but in the end, he just smiled a little._

_“He confessed to me that after being at the royal court for months he finds it boring and full of ‘over-perfumed peacocks’” Izuna laughed at that and Tobirama smiled with him “And he was not sure how he was going to be able to change that”._

_“And you told him to go back to the borders?” Izuna asked._

_“No exactly. Or at least no as boldly” Tobirama said “I made him admit that maybe the throne won’t make him happy” Izuna raised one brow “And after that, he seemed to like me because now he insist on making social visits” Izuna could not help to laugh at the pained expression Tobirama was making at the idea of having to entertain a guest._

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna' age: 19 years.

Madara' age: 23 years

“Buuut, that’s not really important, right now” Izuna said, because he was feeling that if he started to tell anecdotes of those months with Tobirama he would not end. Madara looked very impress after the last revelation, but Izuna decided it was time to get to the end of the mission “A day before the coronation, when finally the Full Blessed Braid could be done, Tobirama confess to me that he did not know what to do…”

* * *

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_They were practicing both their calligraphies, because Tobirama has already master the ability to read, and he had voiced his interest in the activity. So, they were having a late afternoon, both writing, when Tobirama talked._

_“I have to make a choice and I don’t know what should I do about it” that stopped Izuna completely. It has been a surprise the first time Tobirama has confess not being sure about something; and still it was such a rare thing to witness that Izuna always gave him his undivided attention. He put the brush down a looked at him._

_“What choice?” Tobirama was still looking at hi paper, still holding his writing tools._

_“Tomorrow is the coronation” Izuna nodded, even if Tobirama was not looking at him “And the day after tomorrow they would inform the new Diamiyos that the Braid is complete, that the transition time had ended with them, they would…” Izuna already new this chant so he interrupted him. After spending almost three months without leaving Tobirama’ side he knew him good enough to know when he could interrupt him without getting a deathly glare._

_“…told them that they are the Oh! Chosen Ones by their weird God, that they will be the best stuff their Country had pop since forever because the Blessed One time had ended just after their coronation and yada yada yada?” Tobirama snorted and turned to look at him._

_“Yeah” Tobirama was smiling “And also, the Diamiyos would have to decide a date for the End of the Blessing” shit, Izuna thought, he had got so comfortable in this roll of being ‘Tobirama’ slave’ that he had not realize that the day in which he would have to go back home was closer than he had expected. And for once, he really was not looking forward going home. Don’t get him wrong, he really missed his brothers and his cousin and his mum, even his father. But he still felt like he had so much to do and discover with Tobirama, that the idea of going back home was not really appealing. “Izuna” the boy looked up to his friend and realized that he did not heard whatever he said._

_“Sorry Tobi, it just took me by surprise that the mission is going to end so soon. What were you saying?” Tobirama smiled a little sadly._

_“Yeah, it has come sooner than what I expected too” Izuna nodded “But, what I was saying is that, there is a part of the ceremony in which the Diamiyos would ask me for a way to thank me for helping their country; and it seems like I cannot reject the offering. Turning down such an offer would be seen as a huge disrespect.” Izuna nodded at that. “But I don’t know what to ask for” Izunas was confused about that._

_“You don’t? Ask for the first thing that comes to your mind. And later you could just throw it away” Tobirama looked funny at him._

_“It is not that simple”_

_“Why not?” asked Izuna really confuse about all the fuss._

_“I can’t not ask for something abstract, like, I don’t know, give better conditions to the orphans. Whatever I ask for it has to be something that I could bring with me, because it is supposed to be a great honor that in my next life as a previous Blessed One I carry something from the Diamiyos.” Izuna was going to open his mouth, to again express his confusion, but Tobirama lift the hand that still had the brush and Izuna closed his mouth. “But, also, for the Wind Country to still have as good relationship as it has with the Fire Country, our missions must remain a secret. If I bring with me something given by the Wind Diamiyos and one day they found it, it will be my fault if both countries lose the good relationship or even if they start a war…” Izuna was looking at him funny._

_“I think that you are blowing this waaaaaay out of proportion” Tobirama lift one brow._

_“So, I can’t throw it away either because it could be found by anyone” Izuna opened his mouth and then closed it, and repeat the motion a couple of times. “I see that you have understood my problem.”_

_“Yeeeeahh, even if I think it won’t really matter if you ask fo,r I don’t know, a peacock feather and your just bury it in the middle of the forest.”_

_“I can’t ask for something with little value either. That would be an insult too” Izuna growled._

_“This people are waaay to complicated. This is why I hate court stuff. I’m glad I’m not the heir. I would not be able to put up with all this bullshit”_

_“Language” Izuna glared at him and Tobirama smiled._

_“Why don’t you ask for one of their royal animals?” Tobirama looked interested at that._

_“The ones that are in the Royal chambers?” Izuna nodded._

_“Yeah, for them they are exotic and all, because there are not in the dessert, but they are pretty normal at home, aren’t they? And they’re alive. You can just free them at home and no one would see the difference… well it would be kind of awkward to have to carry an animal and keep it alive in the dessert, but…” Izuna rambling ended because Tobirama put a hand on his mouth. Izuna, because even if he was a trained shinobi, he was still a child, licked his hand_

_“Izuna!” the other just smiled as the hand was taken of his mouth._

_“Couldn’t help myself” Tobirama glared at him. “So, you didn’t like my idea?”_

_“No, no, it is good” Izuna smiled at that “The idea of asking for a living thing is quite clever” Izuna grinned more feeling proud of himself “But it would be really stupid to ask for an animal” Izuna frowned at that._

_“And what would you ask for then? A tree?”_

_“No dummy” Izuna still was not getting what was the other one thinking “I’m going to ask for my personal slave” Tobirama said like it was the most normal think to ask for._

_Izuna blinked, then blinked again and the he screamed internally. When he came back to himself, he analyzed the situation: After Tobirama would be gone gone, he would have to fake his death; because he could not suddenly disappear without rising suspicion. And also, he could not have been able to do it as soon as Tobirama was gone. He would have to wait at least another month so that no one would suspect a thing. If Tobirama asked for him as a gift, he would be able to get out of the palace as soon as Tobirama was out, and he could spend more time with the other boy. They still have to fight each other to see who was stronger._

_“Hm” Izuna made that sound while he was thinking “that’s a pretty good idea” Tobirama smiled at that “And you won’t have to worry about anyone finding me, or finding you for that matter” Tobirama nodded at that._

_“I’m glad that you think so, because they will probably dress you up to give you to me as a proper gift” suddenly Izuna did not find the idea as good as before._

_“Whaaaat? No Tobirama, I’m sure you can convince them to just leave me with the slave robes” Tobirama looked him up and down._

_“But I would really love to see you in ceremonial clothes Izuna-kun”_

_“You suck Shukufuku-sama” he said throwing himself at the other boy and they both rolled on the floor. Both of them laughing like the kids they were._

* * *

_Three days later, when the sun had disappeared behind the dunes of the west, Tobirama and Izuna found themselves inside of the wagon that would leave them in the middle of the dessert._

_That same day, an hour before dawn, the celebration of the End of the Blessing had started. Just as the Coronation, it was full of rituals, dances, meals, offerings, prayers, and the whole city was there celebrating. It has been tedious, boring and by the time breakfast time came Izuna was already asking Amateratsu to end him. But the worst part did not come until the moment that Tobirama asked for him as his gift; because they took him, bath him, covered him in oils, perfumed him, dressed him, styled his hair and did his make-up. By the time they were done with him it was almost dinner time, he was very very hungry and he was very close to killing someone, and his nose was itching and he could not scratch it._

_They presented him as if he was a cake. He felt like a cake, with all those layers and colors that they put on him. He was sure that he looked so different that if he appeared like that at the Uchiha compound they would not recognize him._

_After that, the ceremony was quite fast but also some kind of torture. There was a lot of food, but he could not eat anything. After all he was a present and presents did not eat._

_…_

_When the sky became dark, they put a blindfold on both of them and they were taken to the wagon that would leave them in the middle of the dessert. Outside there were still a lot of sounds and music and a lot of people talking and having a good time. Inside, when it was just the two of them, Tobirama took his blind fold._

_“Here” Izuna looked down at his friend’ hands and saw food._

_“You are my favorite person right now” He said taking the food “Do not ever tell aniki” Tobirama laughed at that._

_“Sure, I’ll keep your secret” Izuna smiled at that._

_“Sooo” he said with still some food on his mouth “What are we supposed to do now”_

_“Now we wait” Izuna looked at him trying to asking to elaborate, but he still had a lot of food on his mouth. But, Tobirama seemed to understand him “There would be a procession with a lot of celebrations until we reach the outside of the city. After that, they will take us to some point in the dessert that can be reached in half a night. That way the wagon will have enough time to go back home” Izuna nodded at that “So, I think the best course of action would be to sleep”_

_Izuna did not argue with that. He was tired and the next day they would need all of their strength to cross the dessert._

* * *

_They were woken up by the abrupt stop of the wagon. Izuna had ended up being Tobirama’ pillow at some point and right now he could feel the other one stirring. When he opened his eyes, it was still dark outside and the High Priest had entered the wagon._

_“Shukufuku-sama, we have arrived at the destiny imposed by the God” Izuna moved Tobirama a little so he would wake up faster. The boy opened his eyes really fast and studied his surrounding before nodding to the High Priest._

_They were taken carefully out of the wagon; they gave them a small prayer and a change of clothes, because the ceremonial clothing had to go back to the city; and the wagon left with all of the other travelers_

_Tobirama and Izuna looked at each other thinking: ‘This is it, this is the end of the mission. So, what now?’. Neither of them knew what to say. Was there even something that they could say in these kinds of situations? Maybe not._

_But then; Izuna remembered a promise they did at the beginning of their joint mission… they still had to fight to see who was stronger. So, the boy looked at Tobirama smiling and he said:_

_“You still own me a meal” Tobirama was confused for a couple of seconds before he smiled back._

_“I don’t believe you have defeat me yet”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, there would be a figth next chapter. I hate this kind of chapters soooo, I'll probably spent all my energy writting it xD. 
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter and that you have a good week.
> 
> I would also love to read you comments and see your kudos.
> 
> Thanks for reading


	11. Chapter 11: Izuna' not Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here comes the last chapter of the big mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! I would have love to update the chapter first thing in the morning, but I overslept and I have class in the morning soooo it was not possible.  
> Also, thank you for those lovely comments and your kudos. They make my week a little more interesting. I love to receive an e-mail about a comment because I'm like... OMG what are they saying about the story? xD
> 
> So… Here is the next chapter, I hope you like it!

STILL ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 8-9 years.

Madara's age: 12-13 years

_Izuna smirked at Tobirama before extending his arm to the other boy._

_“What?” asked Tobirama._

_“Gimme your hand. We have to take that stupid skin off you” Tobirama looked surprised at that “You don’t need it. We can just draw the solar protection on your skin until we have left the dessert, can’t we?” Tobirama seemed to think about it, but he did not look so sure._

_“Maybe…” Izuna looked at him a little confused. That stupid thing has been for the mission Why would he want to still have a chakra suppressant on his skin? “But what if we don’t draw it right?” Izuna almost laughed at that._

_“Tobi, I’ve done this seals enough times to be able to draw them in my sleep” the boy still looked insecure at the plan._

_“But what if they just work in that kind of fabric? and to draw them on human skin you need another one different” Izuna raised one brow, and pull up his left sleeve. He applied chakra on his wrist and the sun protection seal appear on his arm._

_In that moment Tobirama realized that Izuna had not get a single sunburn since he showed him the seal for the first time. He thought that he had just been careful, but he realized that he had been able to copy the seal on his skin._

_“You copied?” at that Tobirama look more scared that angry “What if it had not work? What if it had done something to your skin? Or… what if it had exploded? Or...,” Izuna put both hands on his shoulders and Tobirama looked at him._

_“I did not tell you, first, because I did not think it was a big deal.” Tobirama looked at him with huge eyes “However, because you are so worried about… let me tell you that first I tried it out on animals to be safe” at that Tobirama looked confused._

_“What animals?”_

_“The chickens that were next to the kitchen. And they didn’t explode” Tobirama snorted at that. “So, do you trust me to do it right?”_

_“I trust you” Tobirama answer that too fast. “But... What if…” Izuna did not let him continue talking._

_“Ok, Tobirama really, talk to me. What’s the problem?” Tobirama sighed and looked down._

_Izuna had learned that pressuring him to talk was not good, so he released his shoulders and waiedt for the other boy to start talking._

_“I don’t think I want them to see me with the marks” Izuna analyzed the sentence, and after months of living with him it did not take him long to realize who “them” was. Izuna breathed once before letting himself speak._

_“Tobi” the other boy looked at him “Fuck them” Tobirama was opening his mouth to scolded him for his bad language but he was not going to let him “No, Fuck them Tobirama, they are ninjas and warriors that have survive the last war; if they can’t appreciate those scars as a prove of your strength, as a prove that you are alive, they can all be eaten by a bijuu” Tobirama looked startled at that “If I could I would bring you with me to the Uchiha compound and I would make my father adopt you, so those idiots in your clan would not give you a hard time again. But I can’t!” Izuna was starting to get very worked up by his own speech “I can’t protect you from them and their fucking stupidity. And…” Izuna stopped talking when Tobirama hugged him. The boy took a couple of deep breath, calming himself and thinking what he really wanted to say. He hugged Tobirama back before he started speaking again “You are awesome Tobirama and you are my friend, I know you, I could swear in front of Amateratsu how amazing you are and she would tell me that I’m right” Tobirama snorted at that “But those idiots do not know you, so their opinion does not matter. Their opinion should not matter. The only important thing is the ones that are important to you, the ones that know you. So, the others don’t matter, do you get it? They…” Tobirama snorted again and interrupted him._

_“Yeah, I got it the first time. They don’t matter” Izuna nodded._

_“Yeah, don’t dare to forget about it” Tobirama laughed a little._

_“Then, should I take what you are saying into consideration?” Izuna let a theatrical exasperated shout scape his lips and he hit Tobirama and he got out of the hug._

_“Of course!” Tobirama laughed at him “Mine is the most important of all opinions” He hit Tobirama again as he was still laughing “Don’t dare to forget that” he hit him again and Tobirama nodded._

_“Don’t worry I won’t” he said smiling._

_“Good, good” Izuna was also smiling “Now, give me your hand, let’s take that stupid thing off of you” This time Tobirama just gave him his right hand without protest._

_Izuna smiled, commanded chakra to his finger and started following the seal as he had done several times before. However, they did not realize that Tobirama was still dress when they release the seal. So suddenly Tobirama has a layer more of fabric and he looked a little ridiculous._

_Izuna spent a very long time laughing at his friend before he helped him out of his cloths. He needed help because the fabric was getting between his fingers and he could not see with everything in front of his eyes._

_After dressing again, Tobirama put the fabric on his small backpack and looked at Izuna that was still smiling._

_“So, let’s get on with this.” Izuna smiled at that “rules?”_

_“Hmm… Nothing lethal?” Tobirama nodded._

_“Fair enough” and then he did a hand sing and disappear._

_Izuna tensed all of the muscled of his feet and activate his sharingan. That had taken him by surprise but it was going to be the last time Tobirama was going to be able to do that._

_He looked around himself, but he could not find the albino. So, against all of his training he closed his eyes y tried to feel him. He had to be moving, and movement made sounds at some point. So Tobirama would have to make some kind of sound sooner or later. He let some chakra flowed to his ears and waited._

_…_

_…_

_.cri._

_There! He jumped as he opened his eyes to see Tobirama appear from beneath him. He tried to catch him, but he had jump high enough that the other one was not able to get him. Izuna smiled as he landed a couple of meters away from his friend._

_“And here I thought that you Uchihas only used your eyes”_

_“Don’t worry Senju, you can look at them as long as you want” Tobirama smirked and run towards him._

_Izuna prepared himself for a hand to hand combat. However, when Tobirama was almost on him, he pulled two kunais from his sleeves and he jumped backwards._

_“Where the Hell have you gotten those kunais?” Izuna said as he prepared himself again and waited Tobirama to get where he was._

_“Do you really think that the skin was the only seal I had on my body?” He said as he attacked. Izuna dodged the kunai from the right hand and got into Tobirama’ personal space. He gave him a hard hit on both elbows, making him drop the kunais._

_Izuna, using the momentum went down to take the kunais. However, he was only able to take one, as the other was kick out of the way by Tobirama’ left foot. He jumped away to take ahold of the surroundings, before attacking Tobirama before he was able to take the other kunai._

_Tobirama dodged some of his attacks, before he went down and blow sand on Izuna’ eyes. He had to retreat, but he redirected chakra to his ears while he took the sand out of his eyes. That saved him because he hearted the movement of the wind around the kunai that Tobirama had sent his way. He opened his eyes to try to catch the dodged kunai; but as soon as he opened them, he saw an explosive tag on its hilt. He had just enough time to jump away._

_He activated the sharingan again and was able to follow Tobirama movements as he landed. He dodged and blocked every attack coming his way and also attacked when Tobirama forgot to cover a side. They danced like that for quite some time, before Izuna saw an opening on Tobirama’ chest and he used it to send the albino a couple of meters away with a kick._

_With enough time to prepare he was able to do the hand sings to do a Fire Ball. He sent it to the albino that was too late to dodge it when he recovered from the kick._

_Tobirama made a couple of hand signs with a weird reverse order and suddenly Izuna felt himself suffocate, as if there was no air. And that might have been what happened, because his Fire Ball disappear before he was able to reached Tobirama. And as soon as the albino release the last hand seal, all of the air came back and Izuna was able to breathe again. What a horrible sensation._

_Tobirama run to him, but Izuna again made a couple of signs and started to spill a gust of small fireballs. Tobirama dodged the first ones, but as he was getting closer to Izuna it was difficult to do so. The last one he was not able to dodge and he created a rock wall with two hand signs._

_Izuna jumped over the wall as he made a genjutsu took over. Tobirama looked up and Izuna locked him in the genjutsu as he was falling on him. He made the illusion for the first couple of seconds similar to the reality, so he had to fight again hand to hand, but then the left the fight and let Tobirama kicking his illusionary self. He gave himself time to made the hand signs of the Fire Ball jutsu and he trough it at the albino._

_The other boy, as he felt heat that was not there realized that he was in a gentjutsu and released the illusion with enough time to duck the attack. He rolled to the side to not get crushed by Izuna feet as he was coming down and got up and started to do the reversed hand signs again, but Izuna was faster and he put the kunai that was still on his hands on Tobirama’ neck and the other boy stopped._

_Both boys looked at each other breathing hard for a couple of seconds._

_“Got you” Izuna said smiling “So please don’t do that horrible jutsu again” Tobirama smirked at that._

_“Are you afraid of a little air?” Izuna glared at him._

_“Am afraid of a little lack of air” at that Tobirama laughed and let his muscles relax. Izuna did the same, deactivate the sharingan and took the kunai away from his friend neck. “I’ve never seen a jutsu that does that, where did you learn it?” Tobirama smiled._

_“I came up with it” Izuna raised one brow “I knew a jutsu to spilled air into a place to make a lot of wind. So, when I could not dodge the Fire Ball you sent and I could not get out of the way I thought that if I reversed the jutsu and I took enough air out of a restricted zone the fire would die” Izuna blinked at him a couple of times._

_“You came up with a new jutsu out of the blue in the middle of a battle?!” by the end he was almost screaming and Tobirama was looking too please with himself._

_“I guess I did… but it was just reversing one I knew” at that Izuna laughed._

_“You are truly a genius; do you know that?” Tobirama smiled a little bit._

_“You’ve mentioned it a couple of times. But Still, I was not fast enough” Izuna patted his shoulder before he went to retrieve the second kunai._

_“No one is as fast as the sharingan” Tobirama frowned at that._

_“I will” Izuna turned to look at him after he had gathered all the kunais “Just you wait, I’ll train as hard as I can and one day, I will find the way to be faster than the sharingan” Izuna smiled as he came back with the weapons and handed them to the albino._

_“You wish. But I’ll train as hard so you won’t be able to beat me.” Tobirama seemed to frowned at that “But hey, if you are able to find the way to be faster than the sharingan and beat me with it, I’ll show you the Uchiha compound from the inside” Tobirama snorted at that._

_“Sure, you will” Izuna smiled._

_“Well which way” at that Tobirama closed his eyes and looked like he was thinking._

_“So, what do you want to eat?” Izuna smiled at that._

_“Ramen? They did not have Ramen at the palace and I normally can’t eat it at home, because the pork is too expensie” Tobirama nodded and kept his eyes closed._

_“That way” he said after a couple of seconds, pointing to Northeast. “There is large enough group of people to be a small city. They might have Ramen there. It would take less than a half day travelling at ninja speed. And I think we would have left the dessert by then” Izuna looked at him with eyes as big plates._

_“How big is your range again?” Tobirama looked at him “I know that yeah, information to the other clan and all that, but… seriously, how big is your sensor range? If you can feel something that is that far then…”_

_“I can feel the Uchiha compound from mine” Izuna nodded when Tobirama interrupted him to say that “Yeah”._

_“But… Oto-san told me that the Senjus did not know where the compound was” Tobirama breathed before he took his bag and started running in the direction of the city._

_“They don’t” Izuna run after him until he was next to the other boy._

_“You’ve never told them?” Tobirama said no with his head. “Why?”_

_“Would you have preferred that I had said something?”_

_“No, but I don’t understand. You said that you would not betray your family for our friendship. Keeping that wouldn’t be treason?” Tobirama looked at him and smiled sadly._

_“I… I promised you that I would stop the child hunts as soon as I got home” Izuna looked surprised as he remembered the conversations the both had a little more than a year ago in the cave. “I confronted my father about it, and he bit me for talking back to him” Izuna wanted to say something but Tobirama kept talking “I realized that I still did not have the strength or the power to make the child hunts stop. However, a week after that, you moved the compound to a farther and more secure place. You covered your tracks right; and when father asked me where the new compound was, I just told him you were too far away for my range” Izuna still did not know what to say “at the time I was not lying, but my range grows faster than anything I train. So, when you appeared in my range again, I just forgot to tell him about it” Izuna could feel tears of relieve on his eyes “Besides I was not going to point him to the exact locations where children and old people were safe. It would have been a massacre”_

_“Thank you Tobirama” Tobirama nodded. “You really are an amazing person” Tobirama’ cheek got a little pink._

_“I always keep my promises”_

_“That you do” Tobirama smiled at him._

_The rest of the journey they talk about other things with less relevance. But they made it in good time. The city was close to the dessert border, which meant that the Fire Country was not far away. They arrived at lunch time and they found a nice little Ramen restaurant._

_“This is sooo good” Izuna said drinking the soup._

_“Yes, it is” Tobirama said a little surprise “I had never eaten ramen”_

_“Never ever?” Izuna asked._

_“Not really, father had never taken us out of the compound for fun. So, we have never gone to this kind of places”_

_“That’s crazy” Tobirama nodded at that, but he got the look on his face that Izuna hated: it was the one he had when he was thinking about his father “But, hey, Tobirama, one question” the other one looked at him._

_“You were using two different types on jutsus back there, do you have two chakras affinities?” Tobirama ate a couple of noodles as he thought about it._

_“Not really. My main affinity is Suiton; but there was not a lot of water in the dessert so I have to improvise.” Izuna blinked at him. “And I had been studying those Futon jutsus for some time so…”_

_“Wait, why were you studying Futon jutsus if you are a Suiton user?” Tobirama shrugged his shoulders._

_“Well, I did say that I was going to learn how to use all of Ninjutsu types” Izuna blinked at him again “And it seemed that we were right, it was an adult nonsense to believe that you can only use just your affinity jutsus. It is just difficult to train, but not impossible”_

_“Wow, so, you can use all of them?” Tobirama shook his head._

_“Not yet really. The Doton still makes me use too much chakra and I have not been able to achieve the Katon, but I’m getting there.”_

_“That’s amazing” Tobirama smiled again and Izuna was pleased with himself for dodging the Tobi’ father topic. He really had not wanted to see his friend sad the last day they had to spent together._

_They kept eating and talking about different kind of jutsus the rest of the meal. They tried to make that meal as long as possible, going as far as deciding to eat some kind of desert at some other place. However, at some point they had to go back home. So, when they could not make more excuses to keep having lunch at the small city, they got back to the road again._

_Izuna was following Tobirama, even when he started to recognized the forest and the place, he still kept running with him; and the albino kept using the routes that could be used to reach either clan, even if it would make the journey back home a little bit longer. They tried to make almost all the journey back together. However, at some point, in which they were too close to both clan’s territory, they had to say their goodbyes; because it was already midnight, but they could not risk being found by the other clan patrols._

_They had been following the Naka River for some time now. It was the easiest route to follow when there was not much light; and also, the most secure because there were not patrols from either clan there. However, Tobirama stopped when they reached the waterfall and turned to looked at Izuna. At that moment he knew that they could not keep putting off the separation._

_Tobirama looked like he wanted to say something, he even opened his mouth a couple of times; but no sound got out of his mouth. Izuna was looking at him, also trying to find the words, but he really did not know what to say. What should he say? ‘Hey, I may consider you my best friend now, so let’s hope we don’t have to kill each other the next time we see each other? and oh, and would you mind don’t killing my brothers either?’ It was just stupid. There were really no words they could say to each other at that moment. So, in true Izuna fashion he just approached Tobirama and hugged him as hard as he could._

_Tobirama hugged him back hard and buried his head in his hair. Izuna had learned that the albino was very sensitive to smells and found comfort in the ones of those things that he liked. So, he was used to that kind of reaction when he needed a little more love than what he was ready to demand._

_Izuna eyes got wet and hided his face on Tobirama’ shoulder. When the other boy felt his tears, he started playing with the scalp of his nape, but he did not say a thing. He never let his tears fall, but he took a little more than normally to regain control over them._

_“Izuna” Tobirama murmured as he started to break the hug. Izuna let him. he still did no know what to say, but one of his fingers had being playing with Tobirama long braid, and he really could not help but to ask…_

_“Are you going to cut your hair?” Tobirama seemed surprised at that question._

_“As soon as I arrive back at home” some part of Izuna got sad at that. He really had enjoyed braiding Tobirama’ hair. It had felt like when he helped his mother with hers._

_“It looks good” Tobirama raised one brow._

_“But it’s not practical” Izuna thought about what he was going to ask next. It was a little risky because someone could track it back to Tobirama, but leaving here as if nothing had happened felt wrong._

_“Would you give me a lock?” Tobirama looked surprised “I’m going to let mine grow, and when it’s long enough I will braid it with your lock.”_

_“Why?” Izuna shrugged his shoulders._

_“I don’t know… I just… I don’t know Tobi. I don’t want to leave without something that would let me remember everything” at that moment Izuna was completely forgetting the photograph that he had ask for in the palace; but, sue him, it was a very emotional moment for him._

_Instead Tobirama took a small white rock from the shore of the river, bit his finger and with the nail he drew a strange seal on the rock with the blood. After that he pursed chakra in the seal and the little rock turned a little blue as the seal disappeared._

_“Here” Tobirama offered the stone to Izuna. At first, it looked like a normal stone; but as soon as the albino deposited the thing on his hand, he felt it was warm and it pulsed as Tobirama’ chakra “That way, you will be able to feel a little of my chakra every time you touch it”_

_“That’s amazing” the other one said securing the stone on a safe pocket. Tobirama smiled._

_“It’s just a chakra storage seal. Well, it’s just half of a storage seal. Just the part that allows to store. I’ve not drawn the part of the seal that allows to take the chakra, that way it would not fade away” Izuna smiled at him._

_“You are amazing, have I ever told you that?” Tobirama’ cheek turned a little darker._

_“Yes, you have, several times” Izuna smiled more at that._

_“I know you can feel my chakra from very far, but… wouldn’t it be awesome to exchange these stones?” Tobirama looked a little surprised at that before smiling and nodding._

_“Yes. Choose a stone that you like” Izuna grinned at that and went to take one little black stone. He activated the sharingan and Tobirama draw the seal again over his hand. After that the Uchiha bit his finger and made the same process as the other boy. The black rock turned a little red._

_“Why do they change colors?” asked Izuna offering Tobirama the stone._

_“It depends on your first chakra affinity” Izuna nodded as Tobirama took the stone. When the albino touched the stone, he inhaled very strongly and his eyes became wet. It must have been very overwhelming to touch such a thing for a sensor. “Thanks” he said a little hoarse as he regained his composure._

_They looked at each other again, not knowing how to prolong the moment, but needing to go back home._

_“Goodbye Izuna” said Tobirama finally. In that moment the Uchiha felt a little panic and took the other boy wrist. Tobirama looked at him with a little resignation and fondness “The mission is over Izu” the other one nodded._

_“I know…” Izuna needed to say something really bad “I’m not going to stop considering you my friend just because the mission is over” Tobirama looked very surprised at that._

_“But you said…” Izuna interrupted him because Tobirama could be very dense sometimes._

_“I know what I said.” Izuna looked toward the supposed direction of his clan, before looking back at Tobirama “but I don’t care. You’ve become my best friend Tobirama…”_

_“But what if…” Tobirama didn’t seem to have the strength to fight him, but he still was trying “What if I kill an Uchiha?”_

_“You asked the same thing last time” said Izuna smiling sadly “I don’t know. We’ll see when that happeneds. But we are in the middle of a war; I don’t believe I will ever fault you for surviving” Tobirama looked at towards the direction of clan before looking him in the eyes._

_“I see a lot of faults on that plan”_

_“I don’t care. Just… one day at a time Tobi” the other boy looked at him for several seconds before nodding and Izuna felt like a weight had being lift from his chest._

_“One day at a time” Izuna then smiled and hug the other boy again._

_“Then, we will see each other next time” Tobirama snorted, but hug him back._

_“Goodbye Izuna”_

_“Don’t let them take you down Tobi” he felt the other nodded before letting go “See you”._

_And both boys started running to their respective clan. Tobirama crossing the river, and Izuna following up the waterfall._

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna' age: 19 years.

Madara' age: 23 years

“That sounded painful” Madara said and Izuna snorted.

“It was. Well it was for like thirty six hours” Madara looked at him funny.

“What?! You got a mission after you came back from that one?” Izuna started considering if his Aniki was really being dense on purpose.

“Don’t you remember what happened the day after I came back?” Madara activated the sharingan to help him go back chronologically and…

“The fight at the Naka River” Madara almost scream and turned to look at his brother that was nodding.

“Yap, and there is something that happened that I never told anyone…” Madara looked down at the albino more resigned that surprised at this point.

“Tobirama?” and Izuna nodded.

“Tobirama”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo.... yeah next chapter is going to be the Naka river separation of Madara and Hashirama... I did it that way because it always surprised me how much time Hashirama and Madara were meting without their little brothers noticing. This way we had let them be for a couple of months to become friends, but it makes sense that as soon as Tobirama and Izuna come back they would investigate. 
> 
> Also... yeah sort battle... sorry I'm horrible with battles xD
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and for following this story, I would love to read your comments if you have time and feel like leaving one.
> 
> Have a good week, stay safe.


	12. Chapter 12: Izuna' Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So they keep talking and the conversation takes an unexpected turn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you have an awesome weekend. Here I am again to bring you a new chapter ^.^  
> Thank you so much for your kudos and your lovely comments.
> 
> A little warning before you read: So I love tolet the conversations between characters flow and sometimes they are longer than what I expected or they took detours before the arrive to were I planned them to arrive... and it has happend in this one... just let me tell you... Sorry... I was not planning it but it did happend.
> 
> WARNING: There is a tiny description of violence
> 
> I hope you like it!

Izuna looked at his brother for a couple of seconds. This time he was really debating with himself if he should tell him everything. In one hand, Tobirama had come very close to breaking his promise of no betraying his clan rule. But on the other hand, this was something that it had to do with his brother. He had never wanted to think a lot of that moment, but he was sure that Madara was today alive because Tobirama decided to almost cross that line. Sometimes he had had nightmares about that day. However, in those dreams Tobirama did not do anything and he arrived at the river to find his brother body…

“Soooo, are you going to tell me what he did?” asked Madara, a little impatient. Izuna nodded. His brother needed to know.

“I’m not going to go over what happen that day, because you already know it” Madara nodded. “But, let me ask you something… isn’t it a bit suspicious that the clans found out about your friendship and decided to act on it the same day?” Madara blinked for a couple of seconds before his eyes opened so much Izuna thought they were going to fall. “Yeah”.

“He warned you about the attack” Madara said, not as a question, but as a confirmation, and Izuna nodded while stroking Tobirama’ hair.

“Yap, it seems that Butsuma had been suspicious of your meetings for some time, so he asked the Uzumaki for a Guilty Seal…

“What’s that?” Madara interrupted Izuna.

“It is a special seal, that storage the superficial chakra of those who touch it. Tobirama told me that it is used to keep control of who comes and goes in important buildings in Uzu.” Madara was truly amazed of how much uses the seals could have.

“And what he used it for? Did he put it on the river?” Izuna snorted but he denied.

“Butsuma put it on Hashirama while he was sleeping” Madara furrowed his brow at that.

“That is…” Madara was not sure what to say “He really did not trust his sons” Madara could not understand why the other man could not have ask. Izuna nodded.

“Yeah. He only trusted Tobirama” Madara looked surprised at that “He was his perfect soldier” at that Madara nodded.

“So, he asked Tobirama to follow him, didn’t he” but Izuna moved his head in a denying manner again.

“No. He took the seal from Hashirama the day he came back and made him examined it”

“That was why until you two came back from the mission nothing happened” said Madara.

“Yes, He was able to distinguish an Uchiha chakra signature on the seal”

“My chakra” Madara said and Izuna nodded.

“Tobirama knew that the next day an Uchiha child would die. He told me that he took a wild guess because he did not know you were my brother; he just knew we must have been family because he had sensed you close to me a lot of times. So, he contacted me”

“But wouldn’t that have been betraying his clan?” Madara asked and Izuna smiled at that.

“Yeah, I asked about that… he told me that killing another kid just because his father could, was not an act of war but of greed. He was not going against his clan, just against his father.” Madara looked impressed at that.

“So how he did contact you without no one noticing?” Izuna smiled and used his free hand to take something from inside his robes. It was a pendant made with the simplest leather cord and a small white rock. It was something his brother had had for so long that it had feel as if it has been forever. However… “That is the pendant that you both exchanged after the mission?” Izuna nodded again “But, you told me that no chakra could be pull out, how could he warn you?”

“Well, you can’t take the chakra from the inside, or put more once the seal disappears. But it reacts to the chakra’ owner.”

“And it reacts from so far?” Izuna looked a little confused at that.

“I’m not really suuure about that. I asked him but I could not understand half of what he said” Madara laughed at that “But it has something to do with how big Tobirama’ sensing range is” Madara archived that information in his head for latter. If the Senju has truly done what Izuna said that he had done, and his intentions towards his brother and the rest of the clan were not malicious, he wouldn’t mind having a conversation about that particular way of communication.

“So, what did he said?”

“He sent me coordinates” It was Madara turned to looked confused.

“to where? I mean… why not send you the message through the stone” Izuna sighed.

“Aniki, Tobirama was only able to make the rock pulse. It would have been impossible to send a complex message without a proper code. We did not have one, you dummy” Madara’ mouth opened in understanding before nodding “I start to feel pulses, first three pulses, then a pause, then nine pulses, then a pause… and like that until it reached all the numbers. At first, I did not know what it was, then I wrote it down and it took me half of a day to realize they were coordinates.” Madara was going to open his mouth to comment on his brother obliviousness; but Izuna hold up one finger “I was 9” and Madara closed his mouth again “Tobirama sent those pulses for hours until he felt me go in that direction.” Madara nodded at that “And when I arrived there was nothing”.

“Tobirama wasn’t there?” Izuna looked at him like he was an idiot.

“Of course, not aniki.” Izuna said like it was obvious “You and your stupid Senju were discover because you decided to disappear whenever from the compounds as if no one was going to notice that the heirs had disappear.” Madara actually blushed a little at that.

“We were just kids” Madara said and Izuna snorted.

“Sure, but Tobirama was too” Izuna said.

“Ok, so if he did not leave the compound, how did he tell you everything?” Izuna smiled at that.

“He sent me a summon animal” Madara nodded at that “I activated the sharingan and between some leaves I was able to distinguish white fur.”

“White fur?” Madara asked a little confused.

“Tobirama’ summon are snow leopards” said Izuna “So, I walked to the animal and I saw the cutest littlest most adorable snow leopard puppy you had ever seen” Izuna said with hearts in his eyes and Madara snorted at his brother’s antics. “I almost adopted him right there”.

“I’m sure the poor beast was delighted to tell you no” Madara said and Izuna smiled and nodded.

“But he was still cute about it” Izuna said and Madara smiled again “But well, he carried with him a small parchment with Tobi’s message.”

“What did the message say exactly?” Izuna activated the sharingan to be able to get to the memory with precision.

“Tomorrow an Uchiha child of my brother age would be killed at the river, when he goes to meet with my big brother. Make sure to bring an adult shinobi with you.” Izuna recited before he deactivated the sharingan “I destroyed the paper and the cute puppy then elaborate a little more.”

“That was why you confronted me about it” Izuna nodded at that. “Wait but you acted as if you did not know each other at the river” Madara said and his brother snorted.

“Of course, we could not reveal that we knew each other. Look how good it went for you two. That Tobirama and I had big brothers that are stupid is not our fault” Madara looked indignant at that.

“Excuse you” Madara said and Izuna smiled “Would you like to visit the koi pond?”

“You wouldn’t dare to threaten a poor invalid right now” Izuna said putting his free hand over the scar where his most recent wound had been hours before. Madara just raised one brow.

“Watch me you impertinent child” He was going to get up to intimidate his brother when a groan was heard at Izuna’ other side of the bed.

Both Uchihas turned to watch Tobirama. He was still asleep, but his brow was twisted like he was in pain. Izuna’ free hand touched the albino’ forehead before turning to his brother.

“He has a little fever” Madara looked confused at that.

“Chakra exhaustion does not give you fever” Madara said and Izuna looked a little worried “But untreated wounds do” at that Izuna’ eyes opened and he turned quickly to Tobirama. “Izuna! Don’t you dare to move” he said taking his brother’ shoulder and making him lay again on his back “I’ll take care of it” His brother narrowed his eyes.

“Be careful, I’ll be watching you” Izuna said as Madara walked around him and kneeled before the albino.

“Don’t you trust your own brother?” Madara said while moving Tobirama to lie on his back. He was still in his battle armor.

“Yeah, I trust you with my life aniki, not with his” Izuna said and Madara nodded at that.

After that, Madara worked in silence. He first took his battle armor and his fur and left it next to his head. He did not trust the Senju, but he could at least give him the benefit of doubt by leaving his things close and not keeping them.

“I gave him a couple of cut on his arms, and I don’t know if I pierced his armor when I used the kunai on his left side” Izuna said as his brother started to unfasten the under-armor “There shouldn’t be any wounds on his legs” Madara nodded and went to inspect.

In the end, he had to clean, apply an antiseptic and dress the wound on his left backside, and just clean the small cuts on his arms. None of the wounds were anything serious, but with how low his defenses might have been because of the chakra exhaustion it was no wonder why his body has heat up trying to prevent infection. With that done the Senju should have been all right. When he was done and he had fastened again the yukata that the Senju was wearing as under-armor his brother extended his arms towards Tobirama and made grabby hands.

“Gimme gimme” Madara almost snorted at his brother’s actions, but he did not hesitate to lay the Senju again on his right side and Izuna half hugged him so Tobirama was again resting against the boy.

“So…” Madara said going back to his place at Izuna’ right “after that you realized that you could trust him?” Izuna turned to look back at his brother.

“Well, yes and no…” Izuna said “after that I knew I could trust him with my family life as long as it did not endanger his” Madara nodded at that.

“And, then… you have kept meeting through the years being friends while in missions, haven’t you?”

“Something like that. But not always in missions. After a couple of years, he started to find me outside missions” Madara looked surprised.

“Really, and no one noticed?”

“Not really…” Izuna looked like he was again debating himself if he should keep talking, but in the end he decided to tell him “The first time we met outside missions was the night after the twins were killed” Madara’ surprised was so big that the sharingan activated on their own.

Madara remembered that day like it was yesterday. It has been three years ago; their twin brothers had been 8. They have been only for one year on the battle field but their father still kept them on the rear guard, because he seemed to have relax a little from his warmonger days, and Izuna and Madara made up enough for their little brothers’ absence. Both big brothers were relieved to not have their younger ones on the front, because they really did no know what it would happen if the lost them.

Madara remember that the position on the Senju forces had been a little off that day, but Hashirama had still been his opponent and his father had not said a thing, so he let it go. And he regretted to this day not saying anything to his father. Because it cost him an irreparable lose.

He remembered that in the middle of the battle Izuna had turned around and had run, leaving his back uncovered. The first thing that he had done was looking for Tobirama, to protect his stupid Ototo from the Ghost, but he had not attacked his brother. He had just stood there looking at him.

He then had turned to his brother to looked where he was going and his eyes had opened in horror. His brother was running to the twins that were engaged in a mortal battle with no other than Senju Butsuma. How? How had the Senju clan head gotten there?

It only took Izuna three more seconds to get to their brothers, but it was too late. The boy reached them to take Takumi in his arms as he fell with his throat opened. Izuna took Yakumi and put him behind him as he created the biggest Fireball he had ever achieve. However, Yakumi grieve exploded at seen his twin dead and probably because of the Senju’ words and he attacked him. Izuna did not have time to grab him and before he knew it his last little brother was fighting Butsuma with the Mangekyu Sharingan activated. The most incredible thing of all was that he was able to survive the battle until his father arrived and engaged in battle with him a couple of seconds later.

Everything happened so fast that Madara didn’t have time to process everything until his father was fighting like a mad man with the other clan head. He then run to aid his brothers. He arrived in front of Yakumi, who had remained completely still since the end of his battle, and kneel to be eye level to him.

Madara remembered going to asked him if he was ok when his brother looked down at his hand, that was on his stomach, to find a huge wound that could not have missed vital organs. He remembered telling him that everything was going to be ok, and that he was going to make it. He also remembered his little brother calling him stupid and asking him to let him die with his twin.

He them brought him to where Takumi’ body was, still in Izuna’ arms. He remembered his Ototo murmuring “No, no, no, please” and crying blood tears while Yakumi curled around his twin, closed his eyes and he smiled before taking a huge breath of air. While he exhaled, he whispered “We’ll take care of Ryota, we are going to meet him at last”. He took his twin hand and he breathed for the last time.

Izuna’ scream had been heartbreaking.

Later, when the fight was over, he had been told that his father had killed Butusma, but that he had lost his eyes in the process. Later, his father, blinded and with no will to keep fighting a war that had only took sons from him, had named him clan head. Later, he spent almost a whole day in shock. And all of happened later, but at that moment he could only saw the blood of his little brothers on his hands, on his armor, on Izuna… and his little brothers’ lifeless body in between them.

“Madara?” he got out of the memory when Izuna touched his cheek and felt the tears running down “Ey, Aniki, you should not remember that with the sharingan, it is too painful” Madara nodded and deactivate it.

“Yeah” Izuna looked at him before, moving Tobirama so he was laying on his back before turning to his brother and opening his arms to him.

Madara did not hesitated. He laid down and hug his brother as hard as his wounds let him. And in that moment, he realized how close he had been to losing his last living brother, how close he had been to be left alone with no one to have his back. It was in that moment, after reliving his little brothers’ death, and seeing Izuna prostrated in bed because of a mortal wound, that the gravity of what could have had happened suddenly came to him, and even if he did not want to cry in front of Izuna, he could not help it.

Izuna felt horrible at that moment, he really had not stop to think about Madara, and he really should have. He should have told him about his plan, he should have been able to spare his big brother the pain… but he really believed that he was not going to believe him unless he had a proof… and because he was supposed to survive he had not stop to think that his would cause pain to his brother, because the result would have been a good one. He really felt horrible. There were no excuses that he could think of, that forgave him for not thinking that his big brother. He really did not deserved to feel that kind of pain and lose again.

Madara had kept his sharingan activated through the whole twins’ death. He remembered every single detail of it and he had not slept in days after that, knowing that he would dream of the corpses of his brothers. It was how he had gain his Mangekyu. And mother’ death not long after it has not helped. However, with the help on his cousin and his father Izuna had been able to nurse his brother back from his grieve. And even if he still felt the pain as a stab on his heart, Madara has learnt to live again as happy as he could. However, there were moments like this when his brother remembered their deaths and he just needed to curl around Izuna. That was why he did not really want to mention that particular moment.

With his brother having a breakdown and curling against him, Izuna decided that it was enough story time for the day. It was time the rest and recover from the previous battle. So, taking one of Tobirama’ hand in case the albino decided to wake up before him and leave, which was not an option, and curling around his brother, he try to let himself fall asleep. However, as it happened every time his brother was like this, he did not fall asleep until Madara has cried himself to sleep.

And when he could hear the slow and continuous breaths of the others two ninjas in the room he let unconsciousness take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Yeah... I did apologize before the chapter but I feel like I have to do it again... first I did not plan to introduce the scene of the twins' death so soon... I don't even know if I had plan to even describe it instead of just writting "they died"... but I could not help my self as I kept writting... second, I centanly did not planfor that scene to be so dramatic... let me tell you that when I realized what I was writting I had tears in my eyes and I had to stop to be able to keep writting... so... yeh I cried writting it... and I cried again today while I was checking the chapter before publishin it...  
> So... yeah... sorry about how dramatic it has turn... However, I love how is going to help develop Madara' personality.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I would love to see your kudos and read your comments if you would like to leave them for me ^.^


	13. Chapter 13: Izuna' Jiminy Cricket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Hi! I was not sure if today I was going to be able to update and it waaay too short to be consider a whole chapter but it was all I could write this week because of medical problems:
> 
> Resume: Some else finds out about Tobirama O.O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! thanks everyone for your kudos and your comments.
> 
> This week it has been very difficult for me to write because on Monday I suffer from a very strong and painful lumbago (because I'm stupid and sometimes I forget my own limits doing my sport routines)... so I spent more than 2 days laying down without being able to move and then it has being a painful recovery through the rest of the week. Now I’m ok, I’m still hurting a little bit but nothing I can’t manage… And you would ask yourself… why do I want to know this information about the writer of this story? Nah You really didn’t want it. But I’m giving it to you so you can understand that if I could not move for more than 2 days… when I was able to move I used my free time to catch up with my classes and that is why this chapter is soooo much shorter.  
> So, yeah. Even if it is short I think it is a very important part for Izuna. So I hope you like it!

Izuna woke up well rested. He felt so contempt that he was tempted to stretch a little. He even started to move when he realized that both of his hands were free. If both of his hands were free… it would mean that Tobirama and Madara were not with him in the room…

…

NO! That could not be

His body tensed and he opened his eyes to start looking frantically around. He looked to his left, and to his relieved his brother was still sleeping beside him. However, he was farther from him than before, he might have moved at some point. He then looked at his right and… He was render speechless and completely in shock.

Right there was his cousin Hikaku, kneeling next to Tobirama looking at him as if he really did not want to be there, as if he was tired of all the Uchiha brother trouble, as if he just wanted to go to sleep and forget what was going on there. Izuna blinked once, blinked twice and he put his best ear-to-ear smile on when his cousin glared at him.

“I can’t explain it” Izuna murmured and his cousin just sighed.

“I really don’t know if I want to know” Hikaku said before giving him a glass with water. “Just…” he started to talk while Izuna was drinking the water, but he seemed to think better and Hikaku closed his mouth. “It’s…” Izuna kept drinking the water slowly while his cousin looked like he was debating with himself if he wanted to know and what he wanted to know. “Are you safe?” was the only thing he asked in the end and this time Izuna smiled sincerely at him.

“Yeah” he took the last sip of water before handing the glass to Hikaku “He healed me” That comment made Hikaku sigh again. Probably that was too much information for him. He then turned to looked at Tobirama and was surprised to see that the ninja has been washed and had been dress with clean clothes.

Wait.

What?

He turned to looked at Hikaku and the other man just sigh again and looked resigned.

“You father would be disappointed in your poor modals” Hikaku reprimanded him “This man had exhausted himself healing the heir of the Uchiha clan and you didn’t even think of offering him a bath and clean clothes” Izuna looked at him without comprehending anything. His cousin had clean and dress Tobirama before Izuna had woken up, before knowing that Tobirama had heal him, and now he was being reprimanded… He really did not understand anything…

“He is an enemy of the clan…” He said very slow looking directly at his cousin eyes. The other looked at him and activated the sharingan.

“Yeah, but when the healers exited the room the last night, they were devastated saying that you were going to die and there was nothing they could do about it… The whole clan decide to let Madara have your last moments and grieve with him without disturbing him.” Izuna might have flinch hearing that. He really has not wanted to worry anyone “and suddenly in the morning when I come to see how Madara is doing he says that you are perfectly fine that everything is all right and to let you rest. However, he does not ask for the healers to check your condition or give any explanation as to how you miraculously are ok” Izuna was going to open his mouth to say something but his cousin kept talking “So, when I come in the late afternoon to bring Madara his dinner and no one answers I suddenly feel very concern… because why if the clan head had said that everything is ok but you had really die and he had decided to take his own life in grieve?” Izuna flinched at that again. That was really a situation he didn’t want to imagine “Which let me tell you it was more believable than the story that you were miraculous out of the woods.” Hikaku paused for one second before he continued talking “So, I decided to investigate. And imagine my surprise when suddenly I opened the door and I found the White Demon of the Senju peacefully sleeping next to my clan head and his heir” Izuna smiled at that but Hikaku did not looked amused “at first, I did not think you were asleep. I thought that you three were death, because somehow, he had infiltrated the compound to finish you” at that Izuna tried to talk but Hikaku just hold up one finger and Izuna closed his mouth “however I started to inspect you for battle wounds, for your pulse and breath. And… surprise, surprise. You were not death; you were in fact healed and healthy.” Hikaku then turned to his side and took a paper with a seal write on it “I even found this on the place your big wound should be… and I may not be an expert on seals but some on the runes are from healing and only the Senjus could access a Uzumaki-level seal of this complexity” Izuna observed the seal that he had not seen before, but he suspect that when Tobirama had lost consciousness, he had forgot to remove the seal that he had been using “And I also know for a fact that Madara knows next to nothing in the healing or sealing arts…” Izuna smiled at that. His brother was a genius in some aspects but those two were not his forte “So, it was when I realized that somehow the Senju was involve in your recovery. It was also when I realized that the poor boy was suffering from chakra exhaustion” Izuna nodded at that “and after seeing he had chakra suppressing seals on him, I took a calculated risk and decided that if he had save your life the least any of us could have done is clean him from the battle, dress him in comfortable clothes and gave him something to drink” Izuna was really surprised at that. He always has known how well manner and soft Hikaku could be with those he cared about, but he had never known how much. He had always felt it, but he had never been able to name what Hikaku remind him of. But now he knew, he reminded him of a soft a sweet mother that would turned into Amateratsu herself if something was to happen to her kids.

“Thank you, Hikaku” the other man nodded.

“I already feed him warm milk with honey and water” Izuna looked surprised at that. It was known that sugar always helped with chakra exhaustion, but he really had no thought about giving Tobirama anything… In his defense he was still recovering from his wounds and he could not move.

“I did not think of that” Hikaku smiled at that.

“You only need to think of getting better” Izuna nodded at that “And for that it would be advisable to remove the Senju from the room.”

“No” he almost yelled and Hikaku looked surprised at that. “He would not hurt me” Hikaku didn’t look sure about that statement. And Izuna just breathed in before reveling to his cousin the truth “He is my friend Hikaku… we have been for years now.” The poor man looked more confused at that.

“A friend does not impale another friend” at that Izuna blushed.

“That might have been my fault” Izuna said and Hikaku looked more confused by the second. Izuna decided to take the calculated risk of telling the truth about the battle.

“I might have gotten Tobirama angry enough to put him under a genjutsu and he thought I was a different person”

“Why would you do that?” Hikaku said very worried.

“Because we once promised each other that we would not betray our clans, and we also promised each other that we would do anything to keep the other safe… and him entering by his own foot in the compound to heal me was the only loop hole I was able to find in those two promises” Izuna said that as fast as he could, hoping that his cousin had missed something but then he was hit hard on the forehead.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Hikaku murmured-yelled at him after hitting him. The bastard knew that he was not injured on the head and he had hit especially hard. Izuna placed both hand on the new pain point “So you decided to injure yourself with a mortal wound so Tobirama Senju can get inside the compound without betraying his clan?” Izuna nodded even if he still had both hand on his head “And for what? To trap him? To imprison him?”

“What? No!” Izuna said looking again at his cousin. “He is mine to protect” he said activating the sharingan “I need him here to be able to protect him” Hikaku again was confused but did not argue. He had seen a lot of Uchihas said exactly that: ‘they are mine to protect’… When an Uchiha chose and individual to be put under their protection, there was nothing that could really stop them from fulfilling that wish. He had seen a lot of his clanmates do a lot of stupid things for that promise. And until that moment he had thought that the legendary story of one of their ancestors had been the most ridiculous and dangerous of those stupid things done in the name of that promise; but Izunas’ decision was worse than anything he could ever imagine. So, coming to the conclusion that if his cousin was capable of doing such a thing for his promise, he must be really serious about it.

“Are you sure about this?” he finally asked.

“Yes” Izuna said. And then he used a sentence that he had heard Tobirama once, but with his own words “I’m only sure about two things in my life: That I would do anything for my brother and my clan, and that Amateratsu entangle my destiny with Tobirama’” Hikaku nodded “He needs my help, cousin”

“Does he know he need you help?” Hikaku said very calmly and the other boy blushed.

“No…” Izuna said almost whispering “Not yet” Hikaku snorted.

“You know that…” he started saying but Izuna interrupted him.

“Yeah, yeah. I know… you can not help a person that doesn’t want or doesn’t know that need help” Izuna recited and Hikaku smiled and nodded.

“Then, make sure that he knows that. And let him decides if he wants your help Izuna. Because as I see it, you orchestrate all of this situation to happen so you could help with or without his permission” Hikaku was saying in a very calm voice but it really sounded like he was reprimanding Izuna. And he noticed that too and he had the decency of looking a bit ashamed.

“Yeah, yeah… free will and all that” Izuna murmured “But…” this time it was Hikaku that interrupted him.

“No buts Izuna. If when he wakes up you explain everything to him and he still wants to go back to his clan. You are going to let him” Izuna did not look happy about that. He almost pout. But Hikaku saw it and he raised on brow “Do you want me to tell your father?” Both of Izuna’ eyes opened and looked at Hikaku.

“You wouldn’t” Izuna said.

“Try me” Hikaku answerd as calm as ever.

Izuna stared at his cousin, and Hikaku stared back at him. None of them wanting to look away. Izuna trying to stablish some kind of dominance to convince his cousin of not telling his father; and Hikaku calmly waiting for the younger man to realize that he had the upper hand the whole time. However, both of them turned to looked at Madara when they heard him chuckle.

“It’s funny how you are still scare of Oto-san” the head of the Uchiha clan said.

“Yeah, like you aren’t either” Izuna said in his defense “I don’t see you going to report to him any of the fail attempts to recreate the Black Fire Dragon Jutsu”

“That’s different” the older said “I don’t need to tell him every time I do something wrong”

“Yeah, but we both know that you would progress waaaaaay faster if you would ask him about it” Madara glared at his brother before getting up and sitting beside his brother.

“Shut it, Ototo” Mada said and Izuna stack out his tongue.

“Children…” Hikaku said and both brother turned to glared at their big cousin. Madara looked like he was going to say something, but the older Uchiha really wanted to get answers “Madara-sama” Hikaku said and Madara closed his mouth “Are you sure about this?” he said looking down at the albino that was still unconscious.

When Izuna heard the question he turned to look at his brother with pleading eyes and Madara became serious. He looked at Izuna, then at Tobirama and then at Hikaku while thinking and he repeat the process a couple of times. The tension seemed to grow in the room every second that Madara did not answer. But the head of the clan seemed to be really thinking about how to answer.

“I’m sure…” Madara was thinking about how to say what he wanted to say “… that Izuna is telling the truth” that calmed Izuna more than what he would admit “but I still need to know two more things” Izuna nodded.

“What you need to know?” the boy asked.

“First, why it was so remarkable that he met you that day?” Izuna was going to opened his mouth to start telling him everything but Madara kept talking “And I want to know what you did when he started to kill Uchihas” at that Izuna closed his mouth and seemed to think his answer.

Izuna looked at his two other clanmates before nodding.

“All right listen carefully” Izuna said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah! Hikaku is in the known... I really was not planning in including him but when I finish writing the previous chapter I was like... they are sleeping... what if...? and well it came to me that they needed an adult in that situation... xD so Hikaku is in the known.
> 
> And yes Madara' father is alive... I think it is going to be an awesome addition and also... he is alive because I may want to play with the not-Disney-parent' syndrome: you know the history were all the parents die and the child gets in trouble because there is no parent or the parent is not really involve in their child' life... well... this is the what if the Disney' parents would have been alive... Madara-verse xD
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting ❤️❤️❤️


	14. Chapter 14: Izuna's mourning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, this chapter is going to be Izuna thinking about his actions and also telling them what happend after the twin's death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you sooo much for your kudos and your lovely comments.
> 
> I'm better know, The pain is gone and I just have to recover bit by bit, but don't worry I don't think it would take me long to be able to exercise into an optimal mode xD.  
> This week I've realized that each week a have less and less time to write because I have a test week coming up. So I just wanted to tell you that there is a tiny possibility that maybe there might be a couple of weeks in which I would not be able to write. It is just a possibility and I'll try to write the week after that; however, I want you to know this.
> 
> Well, I hope you like the new chapter ^.^

Both Madara and Hikaku got comfortable while Izuna was trying to get his thoughts in order… What should he tell them first? How he should tell them? He had been doing a lot of talking the previous night, but he also had been doing some thinking about how his actions affected those around him. He needed to be careful with his words too.

He was ashamed because he had not thought of anyone but Tobirama while he was coming up and making his plan. He was so sure that he was going to survive it that he had not thought of his brother or the clan. And maybe he could blame his cursed Uchiha heritage; because anyone knew that when an Uchiha got obsesses with something they got tunnel vision. But still, it was not an excuse. He had been trained as the heir of the clan and he had been taught self-restraint so these things would not happen. He guessed his cursed instincts had won over his training this one time. But it would be the last. He was not going to stop considering Tobirama his best friend, but he was going to think twice of how whatever he was planning affected his brother and his clan. It was not going to be easy but he really could not let that kind of worry fall over his brother again. Because this time it has been worry and a little fall back into his Sharingan induce nightmares. But what would have happened if he had really died? What would have happened if Madara had not listened to him and he had bled out? Madara was truly an incredible person, but he also knew that the only reason that he was still sane was because of his family. After the twin’s death, if father, Hikaku, and Izuna had not been there for him, he was sure he would have descended bit by bit into madness. Izuna knew that his presence was important to his brother, and he liked to think that if he was to die, Hikaku and father would be able to keep him afloat. But after today he was not so sure about that. And that was a scary feeling. He liked being important to one of his most precious persons but it scared him that the key to his brother’s sanity resided on his survival.

He knew that his brother still had a long way to go in his recovery and that bit by bit he was getting there. And he hoped that his sanity and happiness would be one day again in Madara’s hands. So, until then, Izuna had believed that he could be his brother pillar; but he had not taken into consideration that being that pillar meant that he had to be careful about his survival. But that only had been because he had never considered the possibility that he would die before him. He was his heir, after all, he was not meant to die before Madara. But this little experience had let him see that he was as mortal as the last of them and that his position as heir did not make him immortal.

And he also hadn’t thought about Tobirama. Like Hikaku had said, he had not asked him. He had planned everything without taking into consideration that maybe Tobirama didn’t want to be helped. In his defense, he had to say that while he was looking inside of Tobirama's mind back in that mission, he knew that he did not know that he needed help; but what it was more important he didn’t think he would deserve it. What had scared Izuna back then, what had really made Izuna act and take all the risk to bring Tobirama home was the image that the albino had of himself. That day, Izuna was not able to describe what he had seen inside his best friend's head. But he could remember the feelings, and it had been horrible enough that his Mangekyu Sharingan had awakened: Tobirama didn’t have an ounce of self-worth, because of how badly he had been treated. The worst thing was that one of the biggest reasons he was in such a dark place was not because the people around him had been horrible monsters around him, but because of how strongly he felt things; how he was able to sense chakras and feelings. He had seen in his memories how Tobirama had once felt self-loath against himself one time that his brother had felt afraid of him. And that had been one minor incident. There had been multiple of those, and Tobirama was unable to forget about them. However, this was not the time to psychoanalyze all of his friend’s problems. But knowing how deeply the Senju felt and how he couldn’t forget any of his “mistakes”, he felt dread to think what would have happened if he had died. If Madara had been too late calling the albino or if he had not called him at all, Tobirama would have thought the rest of his life that he had killed him and he would have never told a soul. He really could not imagine being the reason his friend would have to carry more burdens on his shoulders…

Resuming, he had messed up big time. There were a lot of ways in which he could have achieved to bring Tobirama into the compound… they could have to kidnap him… well they would have tried… but that was not the point… the point is that he needed to think very carefully from now on so no one had to suffer. So, he needed to think of how to tell his two siblings the next stories… The first one he had to be careful to not trigger more flashback on his brother and the second one he had to be careful so anything that he said did not get misunderstood. The moment Madara was referring to had been a very delicate matter between them that had challenged his friendship. But, in the end, they had been able to find a middle ground where they had been able to mend their relationship, and he did not want any of the other Uchihas to give him or Tobirama a hard time about something they had been able to surpass and get behind them long enough ago.

So, he inhaled sharply before looking into the eyes of Madara, and Hikaku and started telling the story that had happened not so many years ago…

* * *

4 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 15 years.

Madara's age: 19 years

_Izuna was suffering a panic attack. Well, much later, when he was calm and thinking, Tobirama told him that he was suffering a very severe panic attack; but at the moment the only thing that he was able to think was that the pain of seeing the lifeless body of his twin brothers was crushing his lungs. He was running, not very sure in what direction he was doing it but he didn’t care. He could not be at that moment in the compound. He could not be close to all those clan members that would give him their condolences. He could not be close to the funerary pier they were building close to the central plaza. He could not be close to the agonizing face of his brother or the look of utter heartbreak of his parents. He could not be in the same house where the bodies of the brothers that the day before were laughing at him because he tripped over their breakfast, were resting now cold and emotionless._

_Everything seemed like it was closing on him, like every moment he spent there was killing his soul bit by bit; like there was no air that could satisfy his lungs; like his eyes were burning so hard that he started to think he had fire instead of pupils. So he run._

_He started running, just wanting to get away from all of that, thinking that the pain would disappear if he put some ground between him and his dead brothers. He run thinking that if he got far enough it would not be real._

_He was not seeing where he was going. He was not feeling what was around him. And only pure instincts and muscle reflexes were allowing him to run through the forest without stumbling on his face or colliding with any rock or branch. However, when a huge mass of white appeared out of nowhere, he was not able to dodge it and he crashed on the floor and rolled until he hit a trunk._

_Izuna did not fight, everything was hurting and he did not have the strength to get up again. He didn’t even want to look up to see what had collided with him. He didn’t care, he was tired, and his soul hurt worst than anything that has hurt before. And suddenly something inside of him broke and before he knew it he started crying._

_It was then that he felt the fur of an animal surrounding him. It was huge and warm and it breathed with him. Izuna looked up for a single moment to see a huge snow leopard lying around him. A name came to his mind ‘Kaiya’. It was one of Tobirama’s summons._

_He kept crying, not caring who was hearing him or how ugly he was crying. If a Senju patrol would have found him he wouldn’t have care. If a youkai would have appeared before him to cursed him he really would have not done a thing. But no one came, there was no one around except the huge cat beside him._

* * *

_No time at all seemed to have passed when two strong arms surrounded him. As soon as those arms were around him he felt the soft texture of Tobirama’s white-collar, he smelt the unmistakable smell of his best friend, he felt the warm and fluid chakra of his Senju protecting him, and his cries became more desperate, more ugly, more like he was breaking inside out. He tried to grab him as hard as his pained body could to never let go because he knew that even if he broke into tiny pieces Tobirama would keep them together for him until he was strong enough._

_Later Tobirama would tell him that he was running straight to the Senju compound. Later Tobirama told him that he sent Kaiya to stopped him and that as soon as he had been able to leave he had come to where he was, he had picked him up and he had brought him to the cave where he had woken up. But at the moment he could not remember anything, just pain, pain for a very long time, and suddenly the strong presence of one of his most precious persons. He let himself be held until the pain became a little more bearable and he could hear his friend asking him to breathe with him. He tried to listen, but it was difficult; every time he took a little of that air in his lungs more tears came to his eyes as the pain returned to his soul with the memory of his little brothers._

_At some point, he was able to get his breathing even; by then his eyes were dry because he had no more tears, but his body still was crying as if he was not aware that there were no more and in the end, his own mind succumbed to darkness and he lost consciousness._

* * *

_He woke up sometime later, could be minutes, hours, or days, who knows. He was feeling tired and some parts of his body hurt as if it was sore and swollen. He then realized that he was not lying on the floor, he was on someone’s chest and in that someone’s arms. Their hand was stroking the base of his nape hair and their coat was around him. He looked up and found himself with Tobirama’s red eyes._

_Tobirama was looking back at him before he closed his eyes and hugged him harder. He then turned to look out of his peripheral vision and make a small gesture with his head. A couple of seconds later a bunch of snow leopard kittens were on his lap._

_Izuna laughed a little before the tears came back, but this time they were not ugly or desperate. They were still a manifestation of his pain, which felt still suffocating and like the worst thing he had ever felt; like his soul was broken, but the desperation had left his body and he could breathe a little better. He did not know how, but Tobirama around him and those little white kittens purring on his lap were helping him somehow. He felt his best friend around him like a block of safeness and calmness and that was helping his broken person find some kind of anchor to hold on to._

_No words were needed between them. The did not say a thing. Tobirama understood too well how bad was the pain of losing a dear brother, and he knew that Izuna needed him, not his words._

_At some point, the albino gave him water to drink, but in the end, he went back to sleep without uttering a word._

* * *

_The next time he woke up he was lying down on a very comfy and warm thick blanket of fur and he was still cover by Tobirama’s coat. Which left the white fur, that smelt like the albino, close to his nose._

_The warmness and the familiar smell gave him some kind of temporal peace that allowed him to not think about his brothers' death. So, the first thing he did was to look around himself to find he was in a cave._

_The cave was dry and big enough for a human being to stand. There was a fire close to him and two big snow leopards in the entrance. The kittens were still there, sleeping around him. But Tobirama was nowhere to be found._

_However, even if his mind was beginning to work, he was still tired and he was going very slowly. It took him a couple of minutes of staring into the infinite to realized that the albino was not there but that he was going to come back at some point. And, by the time he was able to think that, the Senju was entering the cave with more water and something to eat._

_He sat next to him and gave him the water. Izuna stared at the offered pan before he got up slowly. He downed it all in one go._

_“Thanks” he was able to say in an almost non-existent and very thin voice._

_“Don’t force your voice. You are hoarse” Tobirama said in a very soft voice and Izuna nodded._

_Izuna looked at him and his mind started to go around in circles, going from one topic to the other. Until he realized that he had been carried without even noticing it. He wondered how that had been possible until he realized that Tobirama was way taller than him. At that time they were in one of those moments were their growth spurt did not come at the same time and Tobirama looked way older than Izuna. Izuna was just fifteen years old and he was still quite small. It wasn’t until he was around seventeen that he would go through his last growth spurt and he would get almost as tall as the albino. But at that moment Izuna looked way younger than his friend (Which he was, by a couple of years, but that was not important) and he also felt as such. He felt small and younger; but Tobirama’s presence was calming and protecting, so he was at ease._

_Izuna was looking at Tobirama, who was sorting the food, with thousands of questions in his head about the albino’s presence there. But he could not come up with the strength to ask._

_“Here, eat this” Tobirama gave him something that smelt good and was warm “it will help with the hoarse throat” Izuna just nodded and eat the whole thing._

_After he was done eating he stared down at the empty plate trying to come up with a short question that the albino would understand. He didn’t want to force his throat and he knew that Tobirama would understand him with very few words._

_“Why?” Izuna finally asked. Tobirama looked at him and smile a little. He understood him perfectly well. He knew they were not in a mission, and they had never met outside missions. His presence here was almost impossible._

_“You needed me and there was no danger anymore” Izuna looked confused at that “My father is dead” It took a couple of seconds for Izuna to realize that that statement was a good thing. Tobirama’s father was the one that kept an eye on him at every moment, the one that abused him, the reason why Izuna and Tobirama had never met outside their missions. If the bastard was dead, which now that he remembered, had died at Izuna’s father’s hand, they had more time “Also you were running straight to the Senju compound and I could not let you run in the middle of the burial” at that the albino smiled a little and Izuna nodded. On any other occasion, Izuna would have smiled at him, but he didn’t have the strength, not the mood for that._

_“Thanks” Tobirama just nodded at him and took the empty plate to serve him more food._

_The albino gave him the plate full again and Izuna took it and started eating again. He was not hungry, but he was still moving a little on instincts, and having something to do, even if it was just eating was almost calming._

_When he was done the kittens, that had woken up thanks to the smell of food started to play with his hands and Izuna started to pet them. That distraction worked for some time but at some point, his mind kept going back to the compound, to the battle and he did not want to go there._

_“Talk please,” Izuna said raising his head to look at his friend._

_Tobirama was looking at him with those red eyes. He seemed as if he had been observing him the whole time, which was probably true. He was the kind of person that does not leave you alone until they are sure that they had done everything in their power to help. And here he was. His best friend was looking at him, probably worried that he was going to have another breakdown, which also, wasn’t very far from the truth. He could feel his pain starting to grow again without his consent. It was then that Tobirama nodded._

_“Touka suggested that we should make a party to celebrate that Hashirama is going to be now our clan head” Tobirama started to say “But, the elders had thought that to be a terrible idea. We are supposed to keep mourning for almost three months, and then there is supposed to be a quiet and respectful ceremony to named Hashirama…” Tobirama made a paused before he continued “I almost had an aneurysm right there. Could you imagine what would happen with the clan organization if there is no clan head for three months? The mountains of paperwork would probably give me nightmares for months.” Tobirama smiled a little “But, at least Touka was her beautiful self and almost beat the idiot with her nagitama. After that, no one was brave enough to suggest anything as stupid as that” Izuna was listening carefully trying to absorb the information so his mind could not think of anything else “Hashirama is very happy. He really did not get along with Butsuma. He had so many ideas of changing things that I think he almost forgot he had to prepare the burial” Tobirama made a pause and he looked unsure of how to continue._

_“And you?” Izuna asked and Tobirama sighed. It doesn’t matter that the Uchiha was on the brink of having another breakdown, he still could see right through him like no other person on that planet._

_“I… I was present at the beginning of the burial…” Tobirama moved his hand and touched his scars. He always did when talking about his father made him nervous “but there were more important matters” Izuna kept staring at him “And I really could not be there hearing the elders talk about how good of a leader he had been. So I told them I was going to take care of the security patrols” and that was the lamest excuse he had heard from the albino. His friend range was so big that he didn’t need to do patrols, he could feel enemies from so far that he could take a nap before preparing himself for battle._

_“Hashirama?” Izuna asked and Tobiram knew that he was asking about how he had reacted to his leaving the burial. Izuna was aware that the relationship between both brothers had got worse and worse as the years went by. But he also knew that a big part of the problem between the brothers was their father. So Izuna hoped that with the bastard gone their relationship would go back to what was before._

_“Hashirama looked disappointed,” Tobirama said resignedly. However, he smiled before looking at his friend “ But, I think we are going to be able to work something out. So don’t worry your pretty little head about that “Izuna nodded._

_Tobirama looked like he did not know what else to say when one of the kittens meowed harder than the other ones asking to be pet. It was then when the albino smiled and got closer to his friend._

_“Let me introduce you to the little ones”_

_And like that Tobirama started talking about the snow leopard. It was a fact that when Tobirama talked about himself or his family he did not like or have much to say. However, when he was talking about one of his projects, his jutsus or his summon he could keep talking until the sun was no more in the sky._

_They stay like that, Tobirama talking about the kittens, their names, likes, dislikes, their parents, etc., for a couple of hours until Izuna suddenly arrived at the realization that had been hunting him the whole afternoon, one that he had not wanted to allow on his mind. However, Tobirama was talking about two kitties that were siblings and suddenly Izuna could not hold it back anymore. He took the closest of Tobirama’s wrist and the albino shut up immediately and turned to look at him._

_“They are gone” Tobirama seemed to realize what was happening and only nodded. “Tobi” Izuna said again in a very small voice, his stare was lost in the darkness of his mind “They are gone… they are not going to come back”_

_“No, they are not coming back Izuna” at Tobirama's confirmation two big tears fall from his face and the crying resumed again._

_“We are not going to fall asleep on the training field” his voice started to break “and Madara is not going to carry them back to home again” Tobirama remained silence but he moved to envelop him “Oh Amateratsu, Tobi, they are really gone,” he said burying his face on his best friend neck and he let himself cry._

_This time his cries were less desperate and ugly. This time he was no having a breaking down, he was just realizing the gravity of the situation and he was starting to mourn by letting his sadness flow out of him with his tears._

_Tobirama again held him until he could not cry anymore. However, this time, instead of passing out Izuna tried to regain his composure, still hugging Tobirama. He was even able to regain his breathing by matching it up with his friends._

_“Tobi, I have to go back,” Izuna said and he felt the albino nodded._

_“I know,” Tobirama said._

_“Nii-san needs me,” Izuna said and Tobirama just nodded again._

_“I know that too” at that Izuna looked at him surprised before he remembered that his friend could not just feel chakra, but emotions. “He is a horrible mess and I believe only you can help him,” Tobirama said and Izuna just nodded_

_Izuna kept hugging him a little bit longer before getting up._

_“How long I’ve been gone?” Izuna asked._

_“A day and a half,” Tobirama said also getting up. Izuna nodded. “Izuna” the Uchiha looked at him “keep a lock of their hair, it would help you to remember them” Izuna chest constricted a little. However, he always knew that Tobirama's demands had always a reason and were always true. He might not know why the albino had said that, but he knew he would be grateful in the future if he followed his friend’s advice._

_After that, he said goodbye to the summons and to Tobirama and run back home._

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna's age: 19 years.

Madara's age: 23 years

“Why was the lock of hair important?” Hikaku asked and Izuna didn’t know if he wanted to answer that question even if it was important for the next things he was going to tell them. So he decided to tell them without beating about the bush. 

“By that time Tobirama had created a jutsu that allowed him to bring people back from the death” both his brother and Hikaku opened his eyes like plates and were completely speechless “It is not permanent, and can be used to do horrible things if that jutsu were to fall in the wrong hands” Izuna kept talking “However, Tobirama only made it because he missed his younger siblings.”

“He wanted to bring them back to life,” Hikaku said a little horrified, and Izuna nodded.

“But, even he realized that that was impossible. However, he found a way to bring the person in a state between life and death. You can not live eternally in that body, because it can not feel; however, you can not die.” Both Madara and Hikaku looked more horrified.

“That’s horrible,” Madara said and Izuna nodded.

“Yeah, that is why he doesn’t use it,” Izuna said.

“What is the purpose of creating something if you don’t use it?” Hikaku asked.

“He did not know the result of his resurrection studies. But when he came up with that jutsu he also realized that it was a horrible way of existing” Izuna said, trying to make their siblings realize that Tobirama had not done anything wrong.

“But what does this jutsu has to do with the lock of hair of the twins?” Izuna closed his eyes trying to think about how to tell them the next thing.

“For the jutsu to work you need a human life and a piece from the person you want to bring back,” Izuna said without taking his eyes from them “He asked me to keep a lock of their hair just in case the pain was so strong that I needed to talk one last time with them”

“WHAT?!” Madara screamed “Tell me you didn’t” Izuna looked down and closed his eyes.

The silence was all the confirmation that Madara needed before he got up and went to exit the room.

“Wait Madara, let me explain” Madara stopped in front of the door “Please, trust me that I would never put my siblings through any pain. Trust me, please.” Izuna was pleading “And let me explain. Let me explain because this had to do with why Tobirama started to kill Uchihas, and other clans outside the battlefield” that surprised the older sibling that turned to look at him.

Madara’s face was a blank canvas of fury, his hands were into firsts and his eyes had tears. However, he sat down again a looked him straight into his eyes with the mangekyu activated.

“You better had a good reason,” he said, and his voice was cold as ice. “because I can not think of any” Izuna nodded and prepared to tell them the last story of the day. However, he was not sure words would help this time; so he activated his mangekyu and look at his two companions in the eyes.

“Let me show you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooo, yeah... at the beginning I was not planning of doing this part so dramatic but I realized that Izuna and Tobirama's fight couldn't have come from a killing done in the middle of a war. The kind of friendship they had is one of trust and understanding and they are from a fighting shinobis families in the middle of a feud. Death is different for them than is for us. So I have to think something worse than that and I realized that I had always had wanted to introduce Tobirama's resurrection jutsu, not as a way of creating a weapon but as a way to help to say goodbye to someone that had died. Sooo... We will see next chapter if they would be able to understand each other.
> 
> Thanks for reading ^.^, I would love to read what you think about the story and the new chapter and to see your kudos if you liked it.


	15. Chapter 15: Izuna's last memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are going to see the Edo Tensei from Izuna point of view

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!  
> Thanks for your lovely kudos and comments. It really makes me really happy that you still like my story.
> 
> Hope you like the chapter!

3 YEARS AND SOME MONTHS AGO

Izuna's age: 15-16 years.

Madara' age: 19-20 years

_Madara was looking at his memories through his brother’s eyes. He looked where his brother had looked at and he felt what his brother felt in those memories._

_Izuna was running back to the compound. He was coming back from a mission with one of his cousins, Hama Uchiha, she was one of those older cousin third or fourth remove. They didn’t interact much outside of missions because of their age difference but she was a good kunoichi to work with. She did not talk much when traveling and she always kept the opinions of his weird habits to herself. Izuna always suspected that she never commented on it because she always looked as if the mere presence of anything stupid tired her; so he guessed she did not want to get close to it._

_They were running in companionable silence. However, both of them had their Sharingan active and were on high alert. They were in the no-man part of the forest which delimited the Senju and the Uchihas territories. It was the fastest path back home, but it was also a very dangerous one. If they were to encounter a Senju patrol they would have to run for their lives._

_They both were running with the intention of not stopping until they arrived at Uchiha’s territory when Izuna saw something that made him stop. Hama stopped two trees after him when she realized he had stopped._

_His companion could not see it but, there was stuck onto the bark of the tree there was white fur stained with a couple of drops of blood. Under it, on the floor, there was a tiny puddle of the same red liquid. Izuna looked around him and not far away he could see a small drop of blood and some trees later another one._

_He looked at Hama, who was waiting for him to continue when he threw her the sealed scroll of the mission._

_“Go back to the compound, give that to my brother,” Izuna said and the woman looked unsure. “That scroll must arrive as soon as possible. I just need to check something. Tell my brother I’ll be back before sunrise” Hama looked at him for a couple of seconds before she nodded at did a small bow._

_“Hai Izuna-sama,” she said before she left the place running as fast as she could._

_Izuna counted until twenty to be sure that she was far enough that she could not tell where he was going before he started running following the blood path. The drops were very small and they got tinier as he followed it. So the wound must not be severe. And Izuna was not worried about how much the person must have been hurt. What he was worried about was that if the person was Tobirama, like he had suspected, he could not imagine what he was doing hurt so close to the Uchiha territory._

_It was dangerous not just for the albino, but also for any Uchiha that crossed his path. Since the death of Butsuma a couple of months back there had been a couple of disappearances of a couple of Uchihas and the clan was starting to get nervous. It had been only two ninjas so far. But there were whispers that there had been the same occurrences in other clans. It always happened in the same order. When a ninja was sent into a mission, they would disappear after its completion. They would disappear for a whole week before their bodies would be found in places far away from the disappearance’s location._

_There were rumors that the spirit of Butsuma was hunting those that he had not been able to kill. That was how they had started to name the hunter that was making all those kills with that modus operandi The Ghost._

_So because of those kills and kidnappings, the Uchihas were more nervous and Madara had given the order to attack before asking. So, it was not a good idea for Tobirama to be so close to the border. Also since the death of that bastard, he had been able to see his friend a bit more, so he always was excited to be able to see him. So he started to go faster and faster through the forest. He still was on high alert, but he was a little more existed than before. He knew that Tobirama could attack him if he was concentrated on other things and he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, or there was still a possibility that the person that Izuna was chasing was not his albino._

_In the end, he arrived at a small clearing before the wall of the bottom of a cliff. The place was cover in brushwood, vines and the crown of the trees were much dense. The light of the sun was more scarce there than in the other parts of the forest and the place felt a little bit colder and wetter. It was a clear sign that under his feet there was groundwater. Maybe it was one of the affluents of the Naka River. He looked from side to side a realized that because the vegetation was so dense the only point of access to that little dark and wet clearing was from where he came from. So unless his friend has decided to climb the cliff, this was a dead-end…_

_That could not be right. He was sure that he had followed the path right, and still, here he was, looking at an empty clearing, with no more blood-drop trail to follow. However, instead of turning around and going back home, he stepped into the clearing._

_Well, at least he tried, but a barrier made him bounced a little. He blinked a couple of times before smiling._

_Oh_

_Now, this made more sense._

_Tobirama was very careful in everything he did. So, while he was not expecting a barrier, he was not surprised to find one. Also, he still was not a hundred percent sure that Tobirama was at the other side of the barrier, and he did not have the seal knowledge to be able to break that barrier; but, if Tobirama had made the barrier he would be able to enter it. Which, would be the final test because if he was not able to enter, two things could happen: Tobirama was there but not alone, or it was not his friend at all._

_Not wanting to wait longer, he took from the inside of his robes and armor the pendant with Tobirama’s chakra and he pressed it against the barrier. He had learned this little trick during one of those missions in which he had encountered his friend by chance. They had found themselves scaping from a nasty clan in the land of Lightning and Tobirama had to create a protection sealed barrier in a very short time and he did not have time to include him in them. Tobirama had told that he always keyed his seals to his chakra, so as long as he was in contact with it he would be able to pass._

_So, as he was pressing the pendant to the barrier, the force that was stopping him from entering disappeared and he was able to step inside the clearing. And the image that welcomed him was a little bit disturbing. Tobirama was there, unconscious against a tree, surrounded by scrolls, notes, and writing utensils. And not very far from him there were two persons, and taking into account how pale they were and how little movement was in their chest he suspected that they were dead. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and he turned his head to see two big snow leopards. Kaiya and Minori. They were Tobirama's favorite choice of summoning._

_Tobirama once told him the story of two abandoned kitties that had been left to die because they had been born attached by the hip and sharing on the legs. Tobirama had brought the kitties back to his clan and had asked the healer to helped them. However, the healer had told him that he could separate them but one of them would live with only three legs. Tobirama had known that deciding to leave one with one less leg would be as bad as condemning it. So, instead of deciding which one he was going to save, he started investigating the healing art. It took him almost a year, but in the end, he concluded that he could not make another leg grow, and he could not make the existing leg multiply by symbiosis. However, what he could do was attached a leg from a compatible feline. He learned the ways of reattaching limbs, which was very useful after a battle, and when he was sure that the risk was minimum for his two friends he was the one to do the surgery. Because summons grows when they become more powerful, even if more than a year had passed since Tobirama had found them, they still looked like kitties. At some point, Tobirama had started collecting corpses of recently killed kitties and conserving them in special storage seals; so when the time came he had the perfect specimen for the attachment._

_First, he put the kittens in a static seal so they would sleep through the whole surgery and then he separated them. Kaiya, the female leopard was the one that kept the original leg, because after studying their anatomy, Tobirama had realized that it was her left leg. So if he would have left the leg on the male leopard, Minori would had have two left legs. After that, he closed Kaiya's wound and let her rest. The second part of the surgery was the most difficult one. He needed to keep an acceptance seal on while he was attaching every part of the leg to the small body of the animal. The seal would allow the body, not only to not reject it but also to change the new leg, so with time, the physiognomy would be the same as the other legs. Tobirama did this because he was aware that snow leopards were way bigger than street cats and he did not want for the poor animal to have a short leg for the rest of his life._

_He spent the whole night working in the little animal. And he did not leave until he was sure that the little guy would survive and would have a perfect attached leg to his body. He then left them tucked between a lot of blankets so they were warm, and with food and water near so they would not have to move and left to train with his father._

_When Tobirama came back that day he found the two kitties playing with each other for the first time. Minori was on top of Kaiya licking a part of his sister's face that he had never been able to lick before. Every single time that Izuna had heard this story Tobirama’s face turned into a huge smile of pure joy._

_After that, they had started eating getting stronger until the point that they had enough power to talk. That had immensely surprised the albino, which he had thought that they were normal snow leopards. In his defense, he always said that summons animals were civilized and so they did not abandon their pups._

_After that Tobirama had started training with them until they were strong enough to go back to their pride. They told him that they just wanted to go back to ask why they were abandoned, but that they would come back to him._

_A whole week passed and Tobirama started to lose hope that his companions would come back. However, a whole month after that they came back. They looked way bigger than when they had left. And they came back with the snow leopard summon contract. Something that had been lost so long ago that the clans had started to believe it was a myth._

_Tobirama never told him why it had taken the twins a whole month to come back. That was a private matter of the Snow Leopard Pride, so he had never asked. The important thing was that if those two were present Tobirama required someone he could trust no matter what. So whatever was going on there was at least interesting._

_He nodded to both felines with his head before turning to the two bodies and Tobirama. He touched their neck to try to feel their pulse but there was nothing. He then felt fur close to his right side and he turned to see Minori right there with him._

_“They are dead,” The animal said to him._

_“Tobi’s kill?” he asked looking at his friend that was still sleeping._

_“Yes,” The leopard walked until he was close to Tobirama to smell him. Izuna was able to see the color difference between the right leg and the rest of the body. Because even if the leg was white and it had grown as good as the other ones, it did not have back dots. So it was funny to see the whole animal cover in a back pattern except for that part._

_“Is he suffering chakra exhaustion?” The leopard said no with his head._

_“Sleep deprivation. He spent the last two days without sleep before his brother sent him on this mission” Minori said and Izuna tsked. Izuna had thought that with the death of the bastard that killed his brothers, Tobirama would be able to sleep and relax. However, this was the opposite. He hoped it was a just one-time thing._

_Izuna got closer to look at what the other had been writing. The paper made little to no sense to him, which was what normally happened when he was trying to read Tobirama’s things. However, he could recognize a patron in the seals and the annotations._

_“A new jutsu?” he said to himself while trying to at least guess what the jutsu was about._

_“An old one,” Kaiya said from where she was still lying “He started with it when he was around 10 years old” That surprised Izuna a lot._

_“And he hadn’t finished it yet?” Izuna asked the leopards._

_“He had to stop when Butsuma found about it. He had picked it up recently” Kaiya responded to him. That made the project even more interesting. What could have made the old bastard stop his friend? Maybe it was a healing jutsu? Or something none related to fighting?_

_He went back to look at the notes, trying to see if he was able to recognize something. However, he really could not understand a thing. There were a lot of seals, but none of them was anything he could recognize, so maybe it was a very advanced healing method? He kept looking until he read something on the back a scroll…_

_“Edo Tensei” he read and he got more confused. Those words written as they were meant Pure Land Reincarnation, which made no sense at all. Reincarnation was a stage of the soul that was in the domain of the Gods. So maybe it was a metaphoric name, which still left him with more questions than answers._

_He looked at the scrolls until he got tired of not understanding a thing so he sat down next to Tobirama, cover both of them with one of his blankets, and let himself fall asleep. Because he was tired from his mission and he also knew that the albino did not sleep much so either way he would be awake before he had to come back to the compound._

* * *

_His head had fallen on Tobirama’s shoulder. So when the albino woke up and started to move he felt it and woke up with him. First, Tobirama looked surprised to find him there and after a couple of seconds, he started to look nervous. That was Izuna’s first warning that there was something wrong. However, Izuna had learned from his mistakes and he knew that when he was able to sense that something was wrong with his friend he did not need more warnings._

_“Ey” Izuna said putting one hand over the albino wrist “What’s wrong?” Tobirama looked at him in the eyes, like he was trying to read him. This was Izuna’s second warning, it was true that Tobirama liked to read the people around him, he normally just used his sensing abilities, he did not try to go deeper than that, and if he was trying to read him so hard it was a little bit alarming. Because it would mean that whatever was going on Tobirama was not sure if he could tell him._

_Tobirama and he stared at each other for what Izuna thought was forever before he was the one to yield and looked away._

_“You don’t have to tell me Tobi,” he said starting to get up to give Tobirama some space. The albino usually looked more comfortable if people did not invade his persona space “ I was just concerned” Tobirama looked at him before getting in order his scrolls and storing them in a seal somewhere on his clothes._

_When he was done, he sealed away the bodies of the two ninjas a walked up to Izuna that was waiting for him between the snow leopards. He had decided to sit between the animals because it was already night and they were warm._

_“It is not that I don’t want to tell you,” Tobirama said when he arrived were Izuna was sitting. “It’s just that everyone had always reacted in a very negative way when I had told them about it” Izuna took his hand and chucked it so Tobirama was sitting next to him._

_“I’m insulted that you compare me with everyone else” Tobirama looked at him before snorting._

_“Well, do not blame me if you do not like what I told you,” Tobirama said and Izuna smiled at him. “It is… well, in the beginning, was not a jutsu, because when I was younger I did not think that this kind of thing could be done with chakra” Izuna nodded at that “I had always being told that death and souls are the domain of the Gods… which I think that is kind of stupid, but well” Izuna would have felt offended if he didn’t know already that his friend was not being disrespectful, it just frustrated him that he was not able to understand the religion or anything that was based in blind faith in general. “But after our second meeting…”_

_“The one in the cave” Izuna nodded and Tobirama nodded at that._

_“Yes, it got me thinking that if the grown-ups might have been wrong about the usage of chakra, they might be wrong about the gods too” Izuna’s eyebrow rosed to his hairline… that surprised him. “Because it is stupid if you think about it. It does not make sense that death and souls are part of the god's domain. I mean, it is humans the ones that give and take life and also we use the soul to mold chakra and…” Tobirama stopped because Izuna touched his arm._

_“You are getting excited Tobi, go back on track,” Izuna said and his friend blushed a little and nodded._

_“Well, the thing is that I started to look at this as if it was any other jutsu. It has been difficult to find information on this kind of stuff and almost all of them I had to discover them myself” Izuna smiled at him, he was very proud of his friend. He was the smartest person he knew._

_“And what is this jutsu about then?” asked Izuna not understanding why his friend was taking so long to explain this to him. He usually went directly to the facts and to explain how it worked, not how he invented. Tobirama inhaled and looked down at his feet._

_“….” Tobirama might have said something but he did not hear a thing._

_“What?” Izuna asked “Tobirama, this isn’t like you. Please” Tobirama nodded but he did not turn to look at him._

_“It is a jutsu to bring back the dead” He finally said and then he tensed like he was expecting a bad reaction._

_But Izuna was not reacting at all. He had been shocked to the point of muteness. He already knew that Tobirama was a genius beyond compare and he also knew that every time he had found someone that had said that something was impossible and his friend had not believed him, he had been able to prove him wrong. However, that was one thing, and another that his friend was able to defy the laws of nature._

_His silence must have gone for too long even for Tobirama because one of the snow leopards touched him with their paws._

_“Kid, say something” He then looked at Tobirama that looked very distressed, and hugged him out of habit._

_“ Sorry, I’m just…” Izuna said against the hair of his friend that still had not moved to accommodate into the hug “ I… How is that even possible? I mean I was always told that the only thing that you can not amend was death. It is the last stage, the only thing you can not come back from… It’s just… I know you are a genius but… how?”_

_“You are not upset?” Tobirama said in a very small voice and Izuna hugged him harder._

_He had come to terms a long time ago that if Tobirama looked like he was doing something wrong was never out of ill intentions. He had realized that Tobirama did not look at the world in the same way that everyone else did. And because of that, sometimes he had to explain the simplest of things to him and why those things were wrong. And he always rectified himself about those things or did them differently. He had also realized that with some of Tobirama's experimentation the end justified the means. Like that one time that he had found a seal that decreased the mother’s mortality during childbirth by making sure that the baby always was going out with his head first. He had almost massacred a whole herd of cows doing it, but the whole Land of Fire had gained a lot with that._

_So, when Tobirama asked him if he was not upset, he understood where he was coming from. However, he did not have all the facts and so he could not be already upset about what he was doing. What worried him was that if someone had already told him that whatever he was doing was wrong, but he had kept doing it, maybe it was something to worry about._

_“I can’t be upset if you don’t explain it to me” Tobirama turned to look at him. It was weird to be the one hugging someone bigger than him, but he had experienced with his brother. Tobira nodded and turned to looked at his friend while he got out of the hug._

_“It is impossible to bring back the dead as if they had not died.” Izuna nodded at that “You cannot interrupt the natural curse of life” said Tobirama and he took a little branch from the floor and break it “one the life is gone the lifeforce that keep the soul and the body together disappears” he said trying to put the two pieces of the branch together._

_“Wait, what do you mean the life force? Do you mean that we have something more than a body and a soul?” Tobirama nodded._

_“When I started to research I realized that something that we had always considered part of the soul is the life force that keeps the soul and the body together. That is why we can die of chakra exhaustion. Because after we used all of the energy of our soul, we take the energy of the life force, and if we end that, the soul and the body can not remain together and we die.” Izuna was surprised that it made so much sense._

_“So there is no way of getting that life force back,” Izuna said._

_“There is no way of getting that back.” Repeated Tobirama “So… I started to think that if we were all humans, well. The life force of each other should be the same. So I started to think that maybe we could use the one from other human beings”_

_“You are talking about killing others,” Izuna said and Tobirama just nodded. Izuna was not very surprised about that. They were shinobi, they killed to be able to eat. He was not worried about that part of the experiment._

_“At first I tried to just take it for some time and then give back. But once you take it from that person they died and even if you gave it back you still have the problem that you can not bring them back completely.”_

_“What do you mean by completely?” Izuna asked._

_“I had been able to bring for short periods people that had been dead. However, they are not completely alive.” Tobirama took one of his scrolls and opened it “They have back eyes and his skin looks like it is made of rock. I mean if you touch them it feels like skin but it does not look like it.” He was reading the things on his notes so Izuna moved a little to look at them, “Also, they had told me that even if they do not feel any pain they also do not feel hunger or any other physical thing. They can tell when there is wind or when something is touching them, but nothing bothers them.”Izuna kept silent letting his friend talk “And at the beginning, I thought that they were just puppets, that I have summon just empty corpses. However, it seems that because I was the one summoning them they were bound to my chakra, and until I released them they could only do what I told them to do. Like puppets.”_

_“That is a very dangerous jutsu if it was to be used for war,” Izuna said and Tobirama nodded at that._

_“Yes, because it does not take much chakra from the summoner and the revived persons have all the memories and jutsus from their past lives. They also can not die until the summoner released them”_

_“What?”Izuna was a little terrified at that. Someone could use it to bring back an army of dead and powerful ninjas._

_“Yeah, it terrifies me too that someone would use this for war” Tobirama confessed. “That is why I had to researched where no one could find me”._

_“Tobirama, this jutsu is really really dangerous. It has the potential to be the end of all of us” Tobirama nodded again “Then, why are you even doing it Tobi? If you know how dangerous would be to complete it” Tobirama could not look at Izuna, so he looked to the cliff wall._

_“Tobirama-sama only wanted to see his pups, one last time” It was Kaiya who answered and Izuna turned to look at her, trying to remember who these pups were until he realized that she was talking about Kawarama and Itama._

_Well shit._

_Tobirama’s little brothers were one of the most delicate topics that they could discuss. And even if he could not agree with what Tobirama was doing, he could not stop him. He did not know how to handle this. It was one thing to hug Tobirama until he falls asleep and to listen to him talking about them; and another one very different to discuss with him the morality behind this decision. He did not have the emotional intelligence to deal with this, so he changed topics._

_“Alright… I do not know what to tell you, Tobi…” The albino turned to look surprised at him. “So… how are you exactly researching this jutsu?” Tobirama winced a little._

_“I asked my brother for assignation missions and I practiced on them” Izuna winced at that. Yeah, that was a loophole in the morality of the research.”I always do it in those that I have to assassin at least two persons because I need two of them” Izuna looked at him confused._

_“Why two?” Izuna asked._

_“I need to kill one of them and use the other one for their life force” Tobirama explained and Izuna nodded. Yeah, that made sense._

_And it was then when he remembered the assassination of those two Uchihas and other persons that had been found in pairs. Izuna got up quickly and got away from Tobirama._

_“You were the one that killed Hiroto and Sichiro!” Tobirama looked at him confused for a couple of seconds before he seemed to realized what he was talking about._

_“If you mean the two Uchihas, then yes it was me” Izuna looked at him with the sharingan activated and looking at him as if he had grown another head._

_“How could you?!” Tobirama looked at him confused._

_“They were on the bounty list, Izuna. I was just following orders” Tobirama said and he looked incredulous._

_“They were not. My brother and I always look at it. There were no Uchihas on that list” Tobirama looked more confused at that._

_“My brother told me that they were. They were accused of child killings during our father’s times” Tobirama said while he got up._

_“That’s rich. And then what happened with all the child killers in your clan?” Izuna said while Tobirama was trying to get closer to him._

_“Hashirama executed them.” Izuna's eyes opened like plates. “He knew that father had been keeping the bounty list in secret so he would not find out about it. So when he died and Anija found it he took every single one of them and executed them.” Izuna was speechless. That was brutal. The Uchiha looked up to see his friend less than a foot away from him._

_“That does not excuse you for killing members of my clan. If it was true that they had been on the bounty list. They were ours to judge” at that Tobirama looked a little like was going to disagree. However in the end he just nodded._

_“You are right. You had the right to it. I’m sorry I just considered them another kill out of the bounty list and I did not stop to think that they were part of your clan” Izuna looked at him incredulously._

_“That’s the problem Tobirama, you did not stop to realized how that could affect me,” Izuna said a little out of anger. But Tobirama was not going to let himself be stepped on._

_“Maybe if you had done your job I would not have to go around ending the lives of Kawarama murders!” Tobirama said and his face was a mask of pure ice._

_“Ey, do not go around throwing that at me. They had not been in the child-killers squats! Aniki went through them. You had just killed two innocent people!” Izuna said._

_“No, I did not” Tobirama responded “They confessed to me while under the Edo Tensei” That made Izuna stopped dead on his next answer and let what Tobirama had said sink._

_“You… used… them… as a freaking experiment!” Izuna almost screamed and Tobirama winced and recoiled at that._

_The reaction of fear from him was what made Izuna stop. However, he was furious and he really did not know how to proceed. He really could not take the idea that Tobirama could be afraid of him, but at the same time, he was angry with him._

_“Look,” Izuna said before Tobirama could answer. “Just… don’t talk to me. I’m way too angry at you… I need… I need time to think” Izuna was not looking at Tobirama “Don’t come to find me” and after that Izuna left the clearing running._

_One part of him recoiled in horror before the idea of Tobirama being afraid of him. But another part, a darker part of him had wanted to hurt him. Because they were his family and Tobirama had not even considered that._

_He run as fast as he could until he reached the compound and he locked himself into his room. He did not want to talk with anyone._

* * *

_After that incident, when he was still angry at Tobirama and his brother asked him where he had gone after the mission he had confessed that he had followed a blood track until he had to find Tobirama Senju after killing two other ninjas. He told his brother that he had fled as soon as he had been able. And that was the reason why Tobirama was nicknamed Ghost on top of being called the White Demon of the Senju. Izuna regret it almost instantly but he could not take it back_

_It took him almost two weeks to start to investigate the matter of the two death Uchihas, and after that, it almost took him a week and a half before he realized that was something wrong with the old reports and he confronted his father about it. He also is ashamed to admit that he still needed another week to composed himself and sought Tobirama again._

‘And no Aniki, I’m not going to show you that conversation. It was a very private matter that really does not concern you. The only thing you need to know is that we talked, we both apologized and decided that we had to work together because it still hurt and it was not something that we could easily forget. I also made him promised that every time he wanted to research the Edo Tensei I would have to go with him to make sure that the persons that he was to kill were truly guilty and to check that he did not do anything amoral.

But stop wining, I’m going to show you one of the last experiments he did, so you can see exactly how the Edo Tensei works’

* * *

3 YEARS AGO

Izuna's age: 16 years.

Madara' age: 20 years

_Madara found himself in looking from Izuna’s eyes. His little brother and his albino friend were in a dark cave, the place was cold but it was surprisingly dry. The darkness was not a problem because Izuna had his Sharingan activated._

_In front of them, there were two kunoichis. They looked like they were from a mountain clan from outside the Fire Country. They looked strong and very fierce, but they were tied, bitten, and sitting on the ground glaring at their captors._

_“You are not getting anything from us,” one of them said._

_“We don’t want anything from you,” Izuna said getting closer. “Just answer me one question. You are accused of massacring the civilian town that is on the border with the Lightning Country. How many did you kill” The woman snorted but she made the mistake of looking at him directly in the eyes. And then he saw it, the massacre they had caused. They had been originally four of them, but the other two had been killed by the border patrols. “Yeah, they did kill the village,” Izuna said turning back to Tobirama. The albino nodded._

_In one swift movement, he had separate the head from the body of one of them. The other woman looked to her companion and screamed her name. Izuna really could not feel any pity for someone that enjoyed killing innocents._

_However, before the screams could give him a headache Tobirama had drawn the seal on the floor, take the blood from the dead woman, and activated the seal on the second one._

_The screams stopped and in the places of the still-alive person reappeared the dead one. The revived human was so shocked that she did not do anything for the first seconds. However, when she realized that she was alive and free from her restraints he tried to attack. Izuna was there to stop her. She was no match for him._

_“Hm, it seems that by adding a Bull seal to the right we eliminate the initial control over the Edo Tensei,” Tobirama said from the sidelines. He had been working on the control part because he was afraid that if anyone could get ahold of the jutsu they could cause serious damage. “Does she still have her memories? The last time we changed a seal the memories were damaged” Tobirama asked and Izuna trapped the woman into an illusion to check that._

_“Yeah, no damage in the memories” Izuna said and Tobirama smiled._

_“That’s good,” Tobirama said while he was still writing down._

_The conversation went by like that. Tobirama asking things and Izuna answering him. It did not take them long to finish and diminished the Edo Tensei._

_When they did, the body got locked inside a box and was sucked inside the floor, leaving only one corpse in the cave. Tobirama looked pleased and was talking about how he already knew what they had to change to finish it. He also told Izuna how the next time would be the last experiment._

_Izuna just smiled at his friend. He still got doubts about it, but he was making sure that the process was safe and that his friend was not crossing any necessary moral line._

* * *

PRESENT

Izuna's age: 19 years.

Madara' age: 23 years

Izuna stopped the story there because the technical aspects of the conversation bored him and he was sure that neither, his brother, nor his cousin were going to understand them. He also could not tell them that he had not shown them the last of the experiments because it was that day that they had discussed for the first time the possibility of bringing back the twins.

Madara and Hikaku were still trying to process all of the information when we felt movement in the right part of his body. He looked to Tobirama and saw him starting to wake up. His siblings had yet to notice the albino waking up and he was not going to bring their attention to his friend. He looked at how confused his friend looked at not been able to feel chakra around him before he opened his eyes and looked at him.

Tobirama first looked scared, then worried and then annoyed. Izuna just smiled at him, before the albino glared back at him.

“Hi there, Tobi” his word brought Madara and hikaku attention to his friend, who was still glaring and him. Without a single word, he got on his knees as graceful as he could before looking at Madara. However, to everyone's surprise, it was Hikaku the one that talked.

“Wellcome to the Uchiha Compound Senju-sama” Hikaku said in his diplomatic-polite voice “I think we own you at least a thank you for saving Izuna” Tobirama looked speechless at that. “And I think that we also own you an apology on his behalf” this last thing he said it glaring and Izuna, which at least he had the decency of blushing.

Tobirama looked like he wanted to say something, but Izuna believed that Hikaku attitude had melted his best friend’s brain. Izuna almost smiled at that. However, it was his brother the one how talked.

“Hikaku is right. I don’t think that I believe everything that Izuna had told us. But thank you for saving my brother’s life” Tobirama blinked a couple of times looking more and more confused and then he turned to look at Izuna.

Izuna just smiled before Hikaku hit him on the head. Tobirama looked alarmed at that but he still did not say a thing.

“Auch!” Izuna said “ Yeah, yeah,” he said when Hikaku glared at him again “Sorry Tobi,” he said looking back at his friend “It was wrong of me of bringing you to the Uchiha compound in such a manner. I should at least have asked” that did not seem to help poor Tobirama in his confusion. However, at last, he was able to say something.

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... sorry if you did not understand something I wrote it very late at night and probably something that was explained was not very well done. So if you had any questions just leave it in the comments.
> 
> Also, I have been meaning to ask you. I was planning of writing the whole story in just one. However, how do you feel if I was to separate them inside of a series?
> 
> I would love to read your comments about what you think so far.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	16. AN: Taking a break

IMPORTANT AND SHORT AUTHOR NOTE:

Sooooo, I have two whole weeks full of exams and I really need the time to study so I’m not going to update for the next two weeks at least. I promise you that I’ll have the next chapter updated by the 9th of November, but before that, it is going to be impossible.

So don’t worry I’m not abandoning the story or anything, just taking a short break because my studies are more important than my hobbies and the next two weeks are only going to be about studying.

Sorry about that, I hope that you have a couple of good weeks and a good Halloween.

We’ll see each other soon

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️


	17. Chapter 16: Izuna's family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Tobirama and Izuna talk and Hikaku have a very good idea ^.^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… Hi! I’m back!!! I hope you did not miss me much xD.
> 
> Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! The grades I had already received has been pretty good! Also, I still have one test left (because they changed it at the last moment -.-U) but I found time to write this so I had to upload today as I promised ^.^
> 
> Hope you like it!

It seemed that after finding his voice Tobirama kind of regain the functionality of his brain because he started to look around himself. He asserted the scapes routes, the persons in the room, and its weapons, his physical state, and his bindings. And even if the logical course of action would have been to try to escape through the open window, his curiosity about the strange situation he had woke up in won over reason.

Izuna saw the exact moment he resigned himself to stay there a little longer. He liked to think that the albino was also refraining from scaping because he trusted him. Also, he had his chakra sealed and he was very weak, so even if he was such a good shinobi, Izuna was not sure if he would be able to make it out of the Uchiha compound. Maybe he was staying because of that… Well, he was not going to question it, as long as Tobirama would stay longer.

“Thank you Uchiha-sama” he said talking to Hikaku doing a small courtesy with his head, without taking his eyes from the three other persons in the room. “Uchiha-sama” he said as a greeting to Madara before turning to Izuna. “Please stop this nonsense. And explain to me what is going on” Izuna looked away.

“I may have done something that would make you a little bit angry at me,” Izuna said before turning to look at his friend, who only raised one brow. Izuna looked at him trying to decide if he should continue or wait for Tobirama to ask him about it. He waited and he realized it has been the wrong move…

“You mean like the stunt you pull on me on the battlefield?” The Senju said and Izuna paled at that. He did not want to talk about that. He had shown Tobirama something cruel enough to make him panic and forget that he was fighting against him. The albino was looking at him with fury in his eyes, but also with fear.

“I’m sorry,” Izuna said needing to look down because he did not want to see Tobirama looking at him that way. He knew he deserved it, but that did not mean he liked it.

“You are sorry” Tobirama repeated slowly with an incredulous tone in his voice. Izuna just nodded. “You…” Tobirama started to repeat again and he could feel the anger in his voice “That doesn’t even get close to what you should be feeling!” Tobirama had never screamed, and he did not do it now. However, it was as very intimidating when he raised his voice only a little bit and his voice became deeper with anger “Are you even aware of what that did to me?” Izuna did not want to hear the accusation in his voice. He knew he had fuck up; he knew he should not have shown what he did to Tobirama. He knew he had broken his trust by using that against him. But it did hurt to hear such a tone being directed to him. Tobirama has been his ally, his friend, his brother from a different mother, and he had never been on the wrong end of his anger. And what hurt the most was knowing that he deserved that.

“Tobirama…” Izuna tried to start talking but the albino was not done talking.

“Did you even stopped to think sbout how that would make me feel Izuna?” tears appeared in Izuna’s eyes but he tried to blink them away.

“Ey!” Oh no, that was Madara. Izuna turned to look at his brother to plead him to not intervened “I don’t care what kind of illusion he trapped you in. You are not going to talk to my brother that way, Senju” the clan Head said to the albino and Tobirama looked at him like he was an idiot.

“This is not about the illusion,” Tobirama said more calmly before turning back to Izuna “This is about you tricking me to almost kill you,” he said. Izuna looked at him again and he realized that his eyes were still filled up with fury. However, underneath all of that anger, he was able to see that the fear he had seen before was not fear of him but fear of himself. Tobirama was afraid that he would have killed him. And that shocked Izuna.

“You are not angry about the Genjutsu?” He said in a very thin voice and Tobirama looked at him like he was an idiot.

“Of course I don’t care about the genjutsu, you idiot. I have seen my father enough times in my nightmares that I know he is not real or coming back.” Tobirama explained like he was stupid, which at the moment he felt a little bit “What I am angry about is you trying to use me as your executioner.” Izuna swallow and nodded “Are you even remotely capable of understanding how that made feel?” in that last sentence, Tobirama had returned his voice to normal volume “How could you… Why would you even do something like that?” and now his eyes, while still angry looked lost. Like he was not even able to comprehend what has move Izuna to act the way he did. And in reality, it was a great plan when he came up with it in his mind, it became a bit of a stupid plan when he was telling the story to his brother; but now, in front of Tobirama, having to explain why he had done what he had done… he felt like he had betrayed his friend with his actions. He suddenly felt afraid of explaining himself. He felt like this plan was probably the begging of the end of their friendship.

“I did that because…” he started to say but adding to that phrase ‘you’re mine to protect’ sounded like something that the albino would no accepted. Izuna looked again away from Tobirama to try to think about how to tell his friend the truth. And he realized that first, he needed to apologize…

“Izuna…” Tobiram was starting to get impatient, which was not a good thing.

“I’m sorry,” He said very fast turning to look at his eyes and those red orbs pierce to his very soul and he realized that he did not just own him and explanation, but also he needed to make him understand everything. He needed him there because he was not sure that he would be able to live with himself knowing that Tobirama had gone back to his family “I’m sorry I had caused you to feel such pain because of what I did in the battle and I’m sorry I had broken your trust and that I had lied to you” Izuna said “But I’m not sorry for what I did” Tobirama blinked a couple of times before breathing hard once.

“What did you do Izuna?” Tobirama asked looking worried “How have you lie to me and broken my trust?” Izuna took one of the hands out of the beddings and he took Tobirama’s. The albino did not move it away and Izuna took it as a good sign.

“I lied to you when I told you I had not seen a thing in your head when we were in the Land of Earth” Tobirama look just a little surprised. However, that was quickly replaced by fear.

“What did you see?” Izuna looked around to notice that his brother and Hikaku were no longer in the room. However, he could see his shadows behind the paper door.

“Enough?” He did not want to talk about it when his family was listening. Tobirama was a very private person and what he had seen was also very personal.

“Enough for what? Enough for wanting to kill yourself?” Tobirama said almost angry.

“What?! NO!” Izuna screamed at that “No you idiot!” Tobirama looked very offended at that. There were not a lot of people alive that had called him that. “Enough to want you here with me” Tobirama looked like he was ready to answer however, the last part confused him a lot.

“What?” it was a rare occasion to see Tobirama this confused and for Izuna was pretty adorable. He looked like an albino baby deer when you sneaked upon them.

“After what I saw and after I realized how your own family was treating you I could not… I couldn’t… you know” Tobirama still looked confused.

“And how does that turns into you tricking me to skewer you?” Izuna smiled at that.

“Well you are here now, aren’t you?” Tobirama blinked once and Izuna was able to see in his face the moment that his friend realized what he had done. The albino hit him on the head. “Auch! What was that for?” he said glaring at his friend. When Izuna had screamed in pain both Uchihas had reentered the room. However, they were not able to say anything because Tobirama was already speaking and also, because Izuna was not in any real danger.

“Let me get this right” Tobirama was saying still with his hand high like he was ready to hit Izuna again “ You decided that I should no longer live with my family so you impaled yourself in my sword with the hope that I would come here to cure you so that you could trap me inside the Uchiha compound? Is that it?” Izuna blinked once no knowing what to do. He was sure this question had some sort of trap. He felt that no matter what he answered he was going to be hit again.

“Yeeeesss?” he quietly said closing one eye and turning the head a little away from Tobirama. He saw his friend looking at his brother who just snorted.

“Yeah, I would hit him too” the bastard he had for brother said and Tobirama hit him again. However, to Izuna's relief, he took the hand away from him. He then realized that he was still holding the albino’s other hand. It might have been a good sign. Maybe Tobirama was not as angry as he thought.

“What did you think was going to happen after that, hm? That I was going to agree to live in the enemy compound and live happily?” Izuna just blushed at that. He had not to think about that part. Maybe he should have to think about it, but he had never been a planner or a strategist. That was more of his brother's strengths. After a couple of seconds of silence, Tobirama just sighed.

“Well, I’ll be taking my leave,” Tobirama said and Izuna opened his eyes like plates and took the albino’s hand with both of his.

“No!” Izuna said as his brother was talking.

“What makes you think you are going to leave Senju?” Madara said and the albino just looked at the Uchiha clan.

“You can try to stop me Uchiha, but I do not think you can” Madara snorted.

“Senju I get that you are called Demon, but less than three hours ago you had a fever because of your battle wounds and you are suffering from chakra exhaustion. And that’s without taking into account that your chakra is bound” Tobirama seemed to think about what Madara was saying before nodding.

“You are right” Madara was surprised that Tobirama was saying that he was right. No one would do that to an enemy. Izuna smiled, Tobirama had never had any problem admitting when he was wrong. But it was because Tobirama always had worked with logic, not with pride. “However, if I were to remain and gain my strength I will be able to break this seal and be home before you would even notice something was wrong.” Izuna smiled fell at that. It was true. Uchihas were horrible with seals and he was sure that Tobirama knew enough to be able to break it, and with the Flying Thunder God Technique, he would be in his room before the guards could turn to see how he had been able to take out the chakra-suppressant seals.

“Tobirama please,” Izuna said a little desperate. He really could not imagine that after all the trouble he had gone to bring Tobirama here he would just leave.

“You are asking too much of me Izuna” His friend looked tired and pained saying that. “We made a promise. You are asking me to break it” Izuna almost looked guilty.

“No, I’m not,” Izuna said very quickly.

“Yes, you are. You are asking me to put this friendship above my clan” Tobirama did not sound angry, which probably was worst.

“No really. I tricked you into entering the compounds and now you are our prisoner. You are just a poor victim of this war” Tobirama raised one brow.

Before he was able to say anything Hikaku gasped and then he blushed when all of the eyes turned to him.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said as polite as he had been since Tobirama has woken up. “Senju-sama, if you will excuse us. My clan-head and I have to do a consultation.” He said getting up.

“I have to do a consultation” Madara repeated looking confused at his cousin.

“Of course you do,” Hikaku said making Madara get up. “Senju-sama I swear on my honor that we would let you leave if you wait for our return” Madara looked ready to protest but Hikaku elbowed him and glared hard enough to make Madara nodded.

“Suuure” Madara said a little insecure, but Izuna could see the curiosity in his eyes. What was Hikaku thinking?

“Alright, I can wait,” Tobirama said and Izuna almost shouted in happiness. Madara did not seem so convinced.

His reluctance was more out of habit and instinct than out of logic. He had seen how the two of them interacted. He had also seen the sincerity on the Senju when he had said that he was angry because he almost killed Izuna, not because of the horror he had revived in the battlefield. He had seen how he had gone to the limits of his health to heal him. And he had also seen how calm and non-violent the Senju had been. He had never battled against the albino or encountered him on missions so he had not known how he was as a person. He had always imagined him as a violent and bloodthirsty person. However, the reality could not be farther from the truth about this man that against all odds had grown attached to his brother.

So in the end he left the room following Hikaku. He was curious about what his cousin wanted to consult with him. What was going on in Hikaku’s head? What had made the other Uchiha leave the room a walk far from where Izuna was laying with the enemy?

Madara was even more surprised when he exited the main house. He put on his sandals and he started to walk to the west side of the compound.

“Where are we going?” Madara asked.

The sun has just appeared in the sky chasing away the night. The Uchihas were not usually early risers and that meant that at the moment there was no one on the streets.

“I may have an idea,” Hikaku said smirking at his cousin looking over his shoulder “However, to know if it can be done we might have to do a very specific consultation” Madara looked almost horrified realizing where they were going.

“You are not going to tell my father about Tobirama,” Madara said.

“No, you are. I’m just going to ask things” Hikaku said and Madara glared at him a little.

“What things?” Hikaku smirked and looked both ways before he whispered without stopping.

“I may have a way to achieve peace with the Senjus” Madara opened his eyes like plates.

He remembered that more than a month ago he had confessed to Hikaku that he was tired of the war. He was tired of having to dig more graves. He was tired of death and also, he was scared of the next winter. It was not far away and he did not know how they were going to survive if they could not spare enough time to stock up food. He had confessed to Hikaku that as much as he wanted to stop everything and took Hashirama’s hand, he could not go against his brother. However, he had also said that if everything continued like that, he would have to do exactly that. He would need to ask for a stop of fire even if his brother would not agree to it. Hikaku had said that he would try to make Izuna see reason, but no matter what he had said Izuna had not changed his mind.

Now everything made more sense. Now they were able to understand why Izuna was so reluctant to trust the Senjus. However, Madara could not understand how that was going to help them. In the eyes of his brother the other clan was still as untrustworthy as ever.

“How exactly?” Madara said slowly.

“Well, if what Izuna said is true about the Senju. He also wants the war to end.” Hikaku said as they reached the stairs to the temple of Amateratsu. “The peace would not be able to be achieved as long as Izuna says no. And also the elders are going to try to stop the peace” Madara nodded at that. It was true, the problem was not only with Izuna, the elders were like a pain in the back of his head that he could not take away “However if we were able to ‘capture’ the heir of the Senju they might be open to negotiations” Hikaku observed Madara’s face as he was assimilating all the information. And then the clan head smiled.

“You, Hikaku, are a genius,” Madara said and the other Uchiha just smiled.

“You asked me to find a way to convinced Izuna of making peace with the Senju” He said as they finished climbing the stairs and started walking to the little house that was located between the temple and the cemetery.

Madara followed him and enter the small place that was decorated as warm and luxurious as possible. It was nothing extravagant or noble, and from the outside, the little cottage did not seem like much. However, the inside was prepared to be comfy and warm. A man was sitting against the wall with a cup of tea in his hands. His long black hair had some grey hairs, his robes were a nice and strong working yukata and very war socks, and his eyes were covered by a black silk piece of fabric. The air was charged with energy, which meant that the man might have been practicing some jutsu before they entered the house.

“Father,” Madara said, after taking out his sandals and sitting before him.

“Tajima-sama” Hikaku said doing the same as Madara

Tajima nodded to both of them before taking one ship of his tea.

“You have not brought new bodies into the cemetery…” He said slowly “So, I guess there were no casualties?” Madara nodded.

“Yeah, by very little, but everyone is good now,” the clan head said and Tajima nodded.

“Who was the close call?” Madara’s father asked and he tensed a little. The two young Uchihas looked at each other until Hikaku sigh and make an encouraging movement with his head.

“It was Izuna,” Madara said and Tajima tensed and he inhaled very deep.

“But he is alright now?”

“Yes,” Hikaku said quickly “He has been healed up, and right now he is just sore and resting” Tajima nodded at that.

“Thanks, Amateratsu,” Tajima said and Madara snorted a little.

“Well, it is not precisely Amateratsu the one we should be thanking,” Madara said and, even with the silk over his eyes, Tajima could make them see that he had raised one brow.

“Before we talk about that” Hikaku said before Madara could drop the bomb so soon, “Can I ask you a couple of questions Tajima-sama?”

“Of course, what is it about?” Tajima said with a tone that said that he was not forgetting the other thing.

“Are there any laws that protect prisoners of war?” Hikaku asked and Tajima thought about it.

“Not really…” the older man said thinking “You can do pretty much anything with a prisoner…” the young mans stayed silent because they knew the other one had not finished talking “However, there had been some circumstances in which prisoners had been taken care with care and respect.”

“Such as…?” Madara asked

“Normally they were under inter political accords. It is the only time the clan head can make rules with enough power to make them valid over the whole clan.”Tajima answer. “I remember this one time when I was very young. My grandfather was still head of the clan and he needed to find a way to get food from the sea. It had been a very bad year in which a horrible plague killed almost all the food on the continent. The Land of Whirpool has always been allied to the Land of Fire so they sent food. However, the only way to get to the port was through the Hatake's Clan Territory. Because the Hatakes did not trust my grandfather and he only wanted to cross the territory for a couple of months, they could not agree to a marriage. Instead, the Hatakes sent his second heir to the Uchiha compound and the Uchihas sent my father. Both of them were to remain in the enemy's territory until the treaty was over. So they were prisoners of war, but they had to be as good as possible. I still remember the Hatake heir, she walked freely through the compound and she was quite scary.”

“That makes sense,” Hikaku said thinking about it.

“Why do you ask?” Tajima said and Hikaku looked at Madara.

“We might have found ourself in the possession of a very valuable Senju”

“What?” Tajima said, “How do you find yourself in that situation”. Madara looked back to Hikaku before he looked at his father.

“The last hours since the battle had been very difficult to comprehend so I’ll be as clear as possible” Madara said and Tajima nodded “Izuna was dying, I thought he would not survive last night, and the healers were already telling me there was nothing I could do”

“But he is alright now?”Tajima interrupted his son very nervous at hearing that.

“Yes, he is alright now, father” Madara said.

“How is that possible?” The father asked.

“Before losing consciousness for what I thought would be the last time Izuna told to activate a seal. He told me that someone would appear and that they would heal him” and then Tajima’s face seemed to relax and he almost smiled.

“Let me take a guess, the Senju heir?” Tajima said and both Madara’s and Hikaku’s eyes open so much they thought their eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

“What?”

“How…?” Neither Madara nor Hikaku knew how Tajima could know that. They were quite speechless. The older man just laughed at them.

“Do you really think I would let my little boy wander alone?” at that Madara and Hikaku looked confused. “Every time I sent any of my boys to a solo mission I made my summons keep an eye on you. They reported back your brother's friendship with the albino boy.” Madara was very surprised at that.

“Then you knew about Hashirama…” the clan head said and Tajima nodded.

“Yes”

“Why didn’t you do something about Izuna’s situation?” Hikaku asked and Tajima smiled.

“Why would I?” Both younger Uchihas could think of a couple of reasons to end that friendship “They were not doing anything wrong, and that kind of friendship can later be used to very interesting things in the future. It did naught me wrong that it was a Senju but the summons was always close in case they have to pull your brother out of the situation fast”

“Then why did you stopped mine and Hashirama’s friendship,” Madara asked and Tajima snorted a little.

“Son, if I could have chosen which friendship to end, it wouldn’t have been yours. The two future clan heads of the most powerful shinobi’s clans being friends… Well, that would have been a powerful combination. You could have done incredible things, Madara.” Tajima said smiling “However, Butsuma found about it and I needed to protect you” Madara nodded at that, remembering all of the things Hashirama and he used to dream about. Yeah, they could have done great things. “I was born in a time of peace that allowed me to travel and understand something that everyone now seemed to have forgotten” Tajima continued talking “I forgot it too, and it cost me the life of your brothers and your mother” Madara nodded “and it was that evil and good don’t exist, just two sides of the war. We are equal at either side of the frontlines Madara. So if outside of the battlefield your brother has found a friend it should not matter where it came from if their intentions are pure.” Hikaku and Madara absorbed that knowledge, which was a very refreshing point of view, compare with the opinions of the elders and the clan “That is why I allowed your brother to continue this strange friendship.” Tajima made a paused before continuing “So, Butusma’s second appeared in the room and healed your brother”

“Yes,” Madara said,

“And then?” Tajima asked, “He left?”

“No,” Madara said “He passed out from chakra exhaustion” at that Tajima’s face change to realization, and then he smiled.

“Oh, you want to use him to achieve peace,” Tajima said and Madara was hit again with the proof of how good his father had been at politics. It was the reason he always consulted with him in this type of thing.

“Yes, Tajima-sama” Hikaku said, “We have been trying to find a way to stop fighting to be able to stock up food for the winter.” Tajima nodded.

“You won’t be able to do it” the older man simply said and Madara and Hikaku looked a little worried at that.

“Why would you said that?” Madara asked.

“You can not suddenly ask a clan that had spent more than 10 years fighting a war to suddenly sign peace and be happy about it Madara. And also, what is your plan? Keep the Senju in the compound forever? Because the peace will last as long as the boy is with us as a hostage. And let me tell you the Senjus are not going to agree” Tajima said and Hikaku looked sad.

“Your father is right,” he said to Madara. “However, it seemed like we have to take advantage of this situation.”

“Oh, you should,” Tajima said smiling “But you have to ask for something that the Senjus will be able to easily agree, something more realistic, shorter in time”

“Like a temporary ceasefire,” Madara said and his father smiled.

“Exactly”

“Tha’s brilliant,” Hikaku said. “He could demand a ceasefire from now until the end of the winter.”

“Yes,” Tajima said, “That way, we would be able to get enough food and not to worry during the cold months of the year.” Madara smiled at that. It was a very realistic thing to ask and he was sure that Tobirama would agree so his clan could prepare and pass the winter without a problem.

“Thank you father,” Madara said getting up. He would love to stay more time talking. However, he was in a bit of a hurry because he wanted to go back to his brother. He still did not trust the Senju that much.

“Always happy to help,” he said “And tell your brother to come to see me as soon as he can”

“Sure,” Madara said “Bye”

“Bye Madara, bye Hikaku”

“Goodbye Tajima-sama,” Hikaku said before they both exited the small house.

They walked in silence until they reached the stairs and they started to descend slowly. Hikaku was following Madara’s pace and was looking at him expecting him to talk.

“I think we can achieve peace” Madara finally said and Hikaku looked worried.

“But your father said…” Hikaku started but Madara interrupted him

“I know what my father said,” Madara said fast and Hikaku said, “He said to ask for something realistic… well there are almost 6 months until the end of winter. It is enough time to accustomed the Uchiha’s to the Senju presence. Then we could ask for a year probation-peace period in which he could introduce commercial routes between the clans. If that were to work out, we could sign a lasting peace. And after that… well…” the village… he did not say that last part out loud. But suddenly that silly dream he had with Hashirama seemed closer and more real than ever.

“Well, it’s… not… a bad idea?” Hikaku offered “But one thing at a time” Madara smiled reaching the bottom of the stairs.

“Sure, let’s go to talk with the Senju, we have so much to discuss,” Madara said almost grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about writing what happened between Tobirama and Izuna when Madara and Hikaku left in the next chapter...
> 
> After writing this chapter I realized that I want this story to be written in 3 parts and this first part is one or two chapters away from being done. However, do not fret I will not take a break when I finish this part and start the second part.
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter
> 
> I would love to read your comments and get your kudos. Thanks!


	18. Charpter 17: Izuna's end of the plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Izuna and Tobirama are finally alone... let's see what they are going to talk about

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Everyone! Thank you so much for your kudos and your comments, they were awesome and they make my day every time I receive them
> 
> Also, we are reaching the end of this part of the story. Do not worry I do not plan to make any pause in between them and this is not the last chapter but almost xD
> 
> So, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it ^.^.

Tobirama and Izuna looked at each other when the other two Uchihas left the room. Izuna was a little bit nervous because he was at Tobirama’s mercy. It did not have to be necessarily a bad thing and he was very happy to have the opportunity to talk to Tobirama about what he saw (not that he wanted to, but he needed to). However, it still was something he could have avoided a little bit longer.

Tobirama stared at him almost without blinking in that creepy analytical way of his that always used when he was experimenting, before he sighed and turned to look at his torso. He opened the clothes they had put on him and examined him. After a couple of seconds of touching the still delicate skin of his scar, he positioned the middle fingers of his hands on both opposite wrists and the chakra suppressants felt like wet paper. Izuna snorted before he felt both hands on his scar as he started to heal him.

“Tobirama don’t,” Izuna said and the other just kept using chakra.

“As it seems that I’ll be gone soon and you can’t stand the idea of bed rest I have to make sure your wounds won’t reopen,” Tobirama said and Izuna made a pained noise.

“I really want you to stay,” Izuna said sounding sad and Tobirama breathed deeply before stoping the healing to be able to look at him.

“You are being serious about this,” Tobirama said.

“Of course, I’m dead serious,” Izuna said and Tobirama frowned at the expression “Sorry, too soon. But yes! I can’t stand the idea of you living with people that cause you pain and that don’t appreciate you, Tobi!” Tobirama looked away for a couple of seconds before he was able to answer.

“They love me Izuna,” he said quietly.

“Don’t bullshit me, Tobi! I have seen the way your brother treats you” Tobirama’s expression harden at that, but he was still looking away from Izuna.

“He loves me in his own way,” the albino said.

“I can’t…” Izuna was going to protest.

“Izuna!” Tobirama interrupted him and the Uchiha remained silent waiting for his friend to be the first one to talk. He felt like he was starting to push too much and he did not want to get Tobirama into a defensive position because if he did he knew he would not be able to talk to him “I know that I don’t have the kind of relationship you have with your brother” and Izuna thought that That was the understanding of the century “but not all siblings relationship must be like that to be fine. My relationship with Hashirama is complicated…” Izuna wanted to protest at that but he remained silent “I remained him too much of our father, and his progressive ideas for the clan had gained him a lot of enemies within the elders… Some of them had turned to me about replacing my brother and even if I would never do that it has caused tension between us” Izuna wanted to say that his brother should not have the need to question his loyalty, but he still did not say a thing.

“It wasn’t because of that” Izuna finally said and Tobirama looked at him surprised.

“Then why do you think Hashirama is just a bad brother?”Tobirama asked

“The first memory I saw of him was when he accused you of not crying at your brother funeral” Tobirama closed his eyes and he swallowed “And the only thing I could think of when I was seeing that was you breaking down in the arms of an enemy because you could not trust your family enough to mourn with them” Tobirama was going to talk but Izuna held up one finger “My turn to talk” and Tobirama closed his mouth “The second memory I saw of him was after the River incident accusing you of only caring about following your father orders, and ignoring you for almost half a year” Tobirama nodded at that “And the only thing I could think is that you risked your physical integrity to make sure that you brother’s friend would live”

“Those were moments when my brother was really sad and angry you can’t take those into account and form an image of him just out of that” Tobirama said, but his voice was a little less heated than before.

“And then I saw him giving you a cold shoulder, leaving you to do other things knowing that you would have to train harder…” Izuna kept talking.

“Because I told them I wanted to train” Tobirama interrupted him

“But it wasn’t the truth!” Izuna was starting to get annoyed with this “And I saw the memories, it was obvious you did not want to do it; there were so many times that you were almost dead on your feet or even sick and he left you at your father’s mercy because he did not want to do it! It was easier for him to believe you than to see the truth!” That seemed to touch a nerve.

“What do you want me to say Izuna?! That my brother is a moron?! That he is blind to everything that is not inside of his little world!? That he only sees what he wants to see?!” Tobirama said

“YES!” Izuna screamed

“I know all of this” Tobirama said more calmly as if Izuna scream had reminded him that he had to keep his cool “That’s why he needs me, Izuna. That’s why I have to be there, he needs someone to help him with the clan, someone that doesn’t dream away, someone that can keep his eyes in the reality of the situation.” Izuna almost snorted at that.

“And I think it is awesome to help and to be there for your brother, but not at the cost of your happiness and integrity,” Izuna said and Tobirama looked at the ceiling before going back to look at his torso and start healing him again. Izuna did not like that. The silence was even worst than Tobirama talking back to him. Silence meant that maybe Tobirama saw what he was able to see but he wouldn’t agree with him. “I just want you to be happy” Izuna finally said in a very very small voice, almost an inaudible whisper.

Tobirama looked at him but did not say a thing, he kept healing him for a little longer before he stopped and pressed his palms on the scar to make sure it would not reopen. After that he helped him to incorporate, so he would be able to sit. Izuna was so relieved to be able to leave the horizontal position that he would have screamed with joy if the situation wasn’t so tense and weird. The albino looked at him in the eyes when they were both at the same level and he hugged him.

“I know you want to help me Izuna” Tobirama whispered as Izuna hugged him back “but this time, you can’t. It is something I have to deal with”

“But you are not dealing with it” Izuna whispered and he hugged him harder afraid he would release him. Tobirama nodded.

“It’s complicated,” Tobirama said.

“It really is not,” Izuna said “Just stay with us for some time. You´ll see how he will miss you so much that when you go back he would realize how much you are worth and he would start to treat you rigth” Tobirama snorted a little.

“You are not going to drop the subject, aren’t you?” he said releasing his friend.

“As long as I can talk,” Izuna said “Ey, and if in the end, you can escape from the compound I think I would take a page out of that tree hugger and start to scream at you in the middle of a battle.” Tobirama raised a brow at that.

“No, please no,” Tobirama said, “Besides I would ignore you until you give up”.

“You don’t know how persistent we Uchihas can be,” Izuna said with a smile “I’m going to keep scheming plans to keep you with me” Tobirama sight before he tried to convince him using a different strategy.

“Try to think of this situation from my point of view Izuna. What would everyone think if suddenly you were in the Senju compound” Tobirama said and Izuna's eyes opened way too much.

“Oh, sweet Amateratsu, That’s the solution!” he suddenly screamed “if you don’t want to remain here, I will have to go to live with you” Tobirama suddenly felt horror.

“No, no, stop this idiotic chain of thought right now Izuna, you are not coming with me to the Senju compound” Tobirama quickly said.

“Why not?”Izuna asked with all the innocence that he could master. Oh, yes his plan was perfect. If he could go to the Senju compound he wouldn’t just be with Tobirama, but he would also have the opportunity to make Hashirama pay for everything he had done to his friend.

“Because they would kill you as soon as they see you,” Tobirama said calmly

“Pffft, just tell them we are friends” Tobirama blinked looking at him like he was an idiot.

“Right, because that would go so well that maybe instead of killing you they might try to kill us both” Tobirama said and Izuna pouted.

“Don’t be like that Tobi, look how good it went when I told Madara” at Izuna’s declaration Tobirama just blinked.

“I thought that we just established that your brother wasn’t like mine”

“pff, Of course, but because Aniki is the best,” Izuna said sounding as childish as he felt saying that.

“Sure, also I don’t see your better big brother letting you go to the compound of your enemy,” Tobirama said.

“He does not need to know Tobi, I’ll leave him a note,” Izuna said.

“If you continue with this idiotic idea, what makes you think I won’t tell him?” Tobirama said.

“You wouldn’t,” Izuna said sounding betrayed.

“Just watch me,” Tobirama said in a challenging way “You are not coming back with me to the Senju compound Izuna”

“You can’t stop me,” Izuna said and Tobirama just raised one brow.

Tobirama did not say a thing to Izuna kept looking directly at him. None of them seemed to be willing to look away out of a childish rivalry that they always had had over the most stupid things.

The glaring battle was still going on when Madara and Hikaku enter the room again. None of them turned to look at the newcomers and the clan head started to think they had argued.

“Did we interrupted something?” finally Hikaku said and Tobirama was the one that answers without turning to look away.

“Izuna said that if I won’t stay he would follow me to the Senju compound,” Tobirama said and Izuna made a sound of outrage.

“Traitor,” he said before turning to his brother “Yes I’m going” Madara only snorted before he sat next to his brother and he started to touch the scar to make sure he was alright.

“hush, let the adults talk” Madara just said before he nodded to Hikaku.

“Senju-sama” Hikaku started and Tobirama turned to look at him “We may have a proposition that might find to your liking” Tobirama raised one brow.

“Do not tell me Uchina-sama, that you had agreed with Izuna’s stupid plan” Tobirama said.

“Not exactly,” Hikaku said before he turned to look at Madara.

“Senju, this winter is going to be harsh,” Madara said and Tobirama nodded at that. The summer had not given a good harvest and the Senju would have to ration his food “And we both know that if we would cease the fighting for a couple of months we would have enough time to collect enough resources to have a comfortable winter” Tobirama was listening. Suddenly this seemed more interesting.

“You may be right. But you have never seemed willing to negotiate” Tobirama said and Hikaku nodded before he answered.

“To agree to a cease of fire the whole Head Family must agree or the elders had to back this decision up. None of these two conditions had ever been met” Tobirama nodded. He understood how difficult it was to navigate around clan politics. “However, we know that if he would suddenly found ourselves with a hostage in our power the elders would agree to have a temporal cease of fire because we would have the upper hand.” Izuna was going to talk but Madara put his hand on his mouth.

“You are saying that you Uchihas, would be agreeable to stop this war during the winter… as long as you have a Senju hostage?” Hikaku turned to look at Izuna and Tobirama turned to do the same. Izuna who was still with his brother’s hand on his mouth nodded enthusiastically.

Tobirama looked down thinking about it. It was true that the clan could go on during the winter, he was sure that in the end, they would make it through. But that would mean that a lot of the small reserves they had would go to the souldiers and the kids would suffer from hunger. It had happened the year before and Tobirama had hated every second of it. If they were fighting to protect the young ones, why were they the ones suffering in the end? and this year they had even less food than the year before.

On one hand, this was pure extorsion, even if they did not know the reasons he would agree, and this had started because of the stupid idea of Izuna wanting him there. However, on the other hand, if they were proposing this was because the Uchihas might be in a similar situation and the Senjus needed a break…

The silence started to get on Izunas nerves, but he did not do a thing, not wanting to disturb his friend when he was thinking. Because even if his petition had been childish, this might be the way of keeping his friend with him.

“How are you going to explain that I was here to your clan?” Tobirama finally asked and Madara looked nonchalant.

“I’ll just tell them the truth” the head of the clan simply said and Tobirama looked at him as he had become crazy. “Our clan believes in honesty Senju. Besides if I tell the truth, you would probably have a more comfortable stay here” Tobirama did not seem convinced at that, he almost looked troubled about it.

“I don’t think it would be good for my clan to hear the truth,” Tobirama said.

“Then they won’t be told,” Hikaku said “As long as I’m aware there are no spies in the Uchiha compound, so as long as you don’t say a thing to your clan, the negotiations won’t require to approach that topic” Tobirama stared at him for a long moment after that before he nodded resigned and put both wrists up.

“Alright, put them on again,” Tobirama said and both Madara and Hikaku looked surprised because they had not noticed that he was not wearing them. Izuna would have screamed in happiness if the situation wasn’t so formal.

He could have put them on himself but this gesture was a show of power. It was Tobirama’s way of saying that if they had lie to him or if he did not like where this was going he could get away before they knew it. Hikaku nodded before he stood up and put them on again. He then took on a folded piece of fabric from his sleeve and Tobirama nodded and let him put it over his eyes.

“Ey, what are you doing to Tobirama?” suddenly Izuna asked.

“They are taking me to the dungeons” Tobirama simply said and Hikaku nodded.

“Ey, No! You can not send Tobirama to the dungeons!” Izuna said trying to get up.

“Izuna,” Madara said “he is still the enemy. We have to take him there until we have talked with the elders and then we will probably need to keep him there until the negotiations with the Senjus are over”

“But why? Why can’t he remained here with me, he had done nothing wrong”

“Izuna” Tobirama started, but Hikaku talked over him.

“He is still a prisoner and a Senju, there are no laws that can protect him. So a cell where only Madara you and I can enter in a place were very few people can access is the safest place for him right now” Hikaku said “However, because his brother would probably demand that he is not harmed, he would be protected after the negotiations are over and he would be able to exit it” That last thing seemed to calm Izuna a little.

“Ok,” he said like a petulant child “help me get up,” he said without waiting for anyone to actually help him and he hugged Tobirama. The albino was startled for less than a second before he returned the hug and smiled a little.

“It seems like in the end I’m staying” the frown on Izuna’s face disappeared and he smiled.

“Yeah, and I’m going to visit you every day until we can get you out” Tobirama nodded.

“I’ll be waiting,” the albino said and Izuna moved a little to looked at Hikaku.

“You have to make sure he is comfortable and warm,” Izuna said to his cousin

“Izu…” Tobirama started but Izuna hushed him.

“Sure Izuna-sama” Hikaku said mockingly “While you and your brother are talking with the elders I’ll make sure our guest is comfortable.” Izuna just nodded and end the hug.

“Take a bath and dress while we bring the Senju to the dungeons” Izuna nodded and saw his brother and his cousin escorting his best friend to the holding cells of the Uchiha Head House.

And suddenly he found himself alone in his chambers, like three days ago when he was readying himself for battle. Only three days had passed since then and now Tobirama was going to stay in the Uchiha compound. He could not believe it. He really could not believe that even if it had taken him more than a day to explain everything to his brother and his cousin and even if, in the end, it had been thanks to their idea… Tobirama was not going back to the Senju compound.

Oh Amateratsu.

Izuna’s plan had worked out in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... yeah I may have done the conversation to convince Tobirama way too short however I believe that short and useful conversations are the core of our precious Tobi. I mean, he is a man of science, he would be given the facts and he would analyze the situation and make a decision. I do not believe that he had to be convinced of anything or that he needs for people to say things slow and with beautiful words. He is also a genius and has a very quick mind. That is why the "convince" part was so short.
> 
> Also, I hope you like it. I would love to read what you have to say about and if you like it it would make my day to see your kudos.
> 
> Thanks!!


	19. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for sooo many kudos and all of your comments I love them all :)
> 
> I hope you like the epilogue of this first part of the history. Don't worry this is not the end.

Both brothers were in the middle of the Elder’s Council Chamber. The six elders were sitting there, looking at Madara and Izuna with stern looks on their faces.

The room was not exceptionally big, because there were not that many people that were able to reach elderhood; however, it was circular and it was beautifully decorated. Reaching the age where one was considered an Elder was a huge thing, sometimes even bigger than a child reaching adulthood or even a wedding. And in the ceremony, they were present with a special armchair beautifully carved with the images of their most memorable battles, and with a masterful cushion specially made to be comfortable. Those chairs were added to the Elder’s circle in the Council Chamber after the ceremony. So, it was accurate to say that it was one of the most beautiful rooms of all the Uchiha Compound.

“What I don’t understand,” Noriko said, she was one of the four elder’s women, and the youngest of them “It is how you were able to convince The White Demon to have mercy on you” They had just told them the facts as they had happened, waiting to see their reaction before telling them the rest.

“It’s very simple Elder Noriko,” Izuna said with determination in his eyes and very hard voice “Because he is my friend”

* * *

Tobirama almost did not have enough time to inspect his, surprisingly clean and dry chambers in the dungeons, before Hikaku came back with a huge sealing scroll. When the Uchiha opened it on the floor Tobirama blinked a couple of times trying to process everything that was in front of him. However, he could not help but snort, this has Izuna’s name written all over it. Hikaku smiled exasperatedly and looked at him a little amused.

Inside the sealing scroll, there wasn't just a comfortable futon, a couple of fur blankets of what looked like bears and wolves, and a pair of books to entertain himself. No. In the sleeping department there was also, a folding tatami mat, not one, but two shikifutons, a couple of kakefutons, and way too many pillows. In the entertainment department, there was an actual table with two chairs, blank scrolls, way too many books, and a whole calligraphy set. There was also a couple of changes of clothes and a huge box with things to keep himself clean. And to make things more hilarious there was a small circular box with a note.

“I don’t know where you Uchihas went wrong with him,” Tobirama said reaching for the note and Hikaku just snorted.

Tobirama read the note: ‘ _I was saving this for your birthday’_. Tobirama opened the box to find his favorite candy. He could not help but smile and he kept reading the note: _‘but now, I’m going to be able to celebrate it with you and I think the candy will make the dungeons less terrible’_. Tobirama could not stop smiling a little as he folded the note and tuck it in his robes.

Hikaku was looking at him with a mix of horror and amazement. But who could blame him? The only image he had had of the albino until the day before had been of the expressionless warrior that was always at Hashirama’s right. He had seen him kill and he had been horrified to see that he had never shown any kind of emotion, not excitement or repulsion, nothing. It was as if he was truly just a perfectly carved tool summoned from the depths of hell to serve the Senjus. A demon or a ghost, both descriptions had been perfect. So, even if he had seen him get angry and worry with Izuna, hours before, he had remained calmer and more composed than anyone would have expected. However, now he was seeing him smile, even if it was just a little, it was still so shocking he could not control his face.

Tobirama composed himself quickly and started to organize all of the things that Hikaku had bring. Eventually, The Uchiha was able to get out of his shock quickly and helped him out. They were done quickly and both of them could not help to think the irony that the dungeon cell was probably better equipped than their bedrooms.

“Thank you,” Tobirama said and Hikaku noded.

“I’ll get going,” Hikaku said “It won’t be long before Izuna is here,” Tobirama nodded.

* * *

“Do you know that to have an ally outside the clan it has to be acknowledged by an elder and signed by the clan head?” Fuku said. She was the eldest of the six of them and she was so old that some of them wondered if she had been there since the begging of time.

They had already told the elders a summarized story of Izuna's friendship. He did not give any details and when they asked him why would he almost kill himself for a Senju friend he just said ‘He is mine to protect’. That has shut up almost all of them because of how important those five words were to the Uchihas. They were the beginning of the ritual made to Amateratsu when an Uchiha wanted to present their Erabareshimono.

Erabareshimono was the formal way to name the special person an Uchiha felt the need to take care of, to love, and to protect. Through the centuries this pull had been felt by multiples Uchihas and even if it did not happen to every single one of them it wasn’t a rare occurrence. The younglings called them Eraba for short because it was common to find your own within your fellow Uchihas and it was a mouthful to say Erabareshimono every time you wanted to call them. An also, it was one of the most sacred bonds the Uchihas believed in; and not only because they believed that those bonds were forged by Amaterasu, but also because the Uchihas had always thrived, survived, and grow in some way or other thanks to those bonds.

So when Izuna has said those words, the gravity of his declaration had shocked every single elder there. Madara, blessed with his center minded brain, had not realized the importance of those words when Izuna had said them to him back in his chambers when he was telling him the whole story. However, at that moment, looking at the elder's faces he realized what Izuna had truly meant and palled himself a little. Then, he thought that his bastard of a cousin had realized all along and had not said a thing.

So after all this was said, Fuku-sama, that even if almost all the time she acted as an adorable grandma to everyone, she had the sharpest minds for politics and laws out of all of them, tried to find holes in their story. That question was a legit one and also both brothers looked at each other because they had not thought about it. So when Madara was going to open his mouth and said that it was a problem that could be easily solved at that moment, the voice of his father spoke first.

“Of course we know” Tajima Uchiha spoke from outside of the circle of the elders. The man wasn’t still old enough to be part of the Elder’s Council, but because he was a former clan head, he was allowed to participate. However, he had not been present when the Council had started and they had not bothered to call him because normally he did not attend (Since he had retired he had retained little interest in politics). So it was a little surprising to see him there, walking to where Fuku-sama was, passing next to his sons, and handing her a scroll.

When Izuna had heard his father talked he made a surprised noise, not because he has not expected Tajima to be there, but because… what did his father mean when he had said that he knew?... What did he know exactly?... Had Madara told him about his relationship with Tobirama? He started to get a little nervous trying to imagine how his father had reacted to that, but he tried to not show it externally. However, his brother, who knew him better than anyone was able to perceive his change in demeanor.

Madara looked at his younger sibling and at that moment he realized that he had not told Izuna about his father's knowledge of his friendship with the Senju heir. Well, it was too late to tell him. He will have to wait until they were out of the Elders Council.

Fuku opened the scroll and after reading it she snorted and passed the scroll to the elder on her right. She then looked at Tajima and smiled.

“You old fox,” Fuku said and Tajima smiled to himself and he went to sit with his sons. He would normally sit at Madara’s left. However, this time he positioned himself to Izunas right so he was able to touch his son and feel his heart beating under the skin of his hands.

“What is that?” Madara whispered to his father while the elders were reading the scroll. His father angled his head towards his oldest son.

“That is the Acknowledged of Tobirama and Izuna friendship” both brothers turned to look at his father.

This time Izuna could not suppress a very audible sound of pure confusion. Both, Tajima and Madara turned to look at him a little amused.

“What?” Izuna whispered “How?... How… That takes time to do! You can’t have had that made just now!” Tajima looked a little amused at that.

“I had had that scroll for some time now” Izuna blinked a couple of times and he put a face of incomprehension. He was opening and closing his mouth like a fish so Madara took that opportunity to ask his father.

“Was there some else who knew about Izuna’s friendship?” Madara asked and Tajima patted him on the hand.

“Of course,” Tajima said almost offended “I would have like to see you trying to hide something from my grandmother” Both Uchiha tensed a little at the mention of their great-grandmother. She had died three years before the twins and she had been an elder for a very long time. It made sense that she was the one to sign that paper “She was the one that suggested to create the acknowledgments. She said that if I wanted to use those friendships in a political game I had to make sure no one could use them against me.” Tajima said and Izuna felt a little possessive of Tobirama when he heard his father talking about using their friendship. However, Madara talked first.

“Acknowledgments? as in plural?” Madara whispered and Tajima nodded “Hashirama?” and their father nodded again. Before reaching for his other son's hand and patted him too.

“One thing at a time Madara”

“Of course father” Madara said and the conversation was over. However Izuna could feel his brother being a bit happier than before and he almost hissed because he still had a personal grudge against the Senju clan head, but he remained calm and did not say a thing. He also was still too busy trying to understand his father's involvement in all of that situation.

Izuna turned to look at his father to ask him more about how much he knew, why was their deceased great-grandmother involved, and… Tajima patted his leg before he smiled.

“Later Izuna” and the youngest Uchiha just nodded. Even if Tajima was no clan head anymore he was his father and he could not disobey him.

When all of the elders had read the scroll Fuku talked again.

“I supposed then that this Council is a mere formality” Madara looked at his brother and his father that were nodding.

“Yes, Fuku-sama, the Clan Family had already made up their mind” all the elders then looked at each other and they seemed to silently debate between each other for a very short time before Fuku talked again.

“Then, Madara-sama, you have the support of the Elder Council to initialized the Accords for the ceased of Fire with the Senju's” The three members of the Clan Head family got up and made a half reverence to the elders.

“Thank you, Elders,” Madara said.

“Our pleasure Madara-sama,” Fuku said again before the three of them exited the room.

As soon as they were out of the Elders Council they were greeted with several Uchihas that were buying in the market district. Madara told one of the guards to make sure that everyone knew that at the dawn of that same day he wanted to see every Uchiha that could in the Central Plaza because he was going to make an announcement. After that, the three Uchiha walked in silence. They just stopped to greet the persons that they encountered to say hi and to let them hug and pester Izuna about how worried they had been about the young heir. In the end, it took three times longer than it should have to reach their father's house. And as soon as they were inside Madara spoke very quickly so his brother could not explode with thousands of questions.

“Father knew about your relationship from the beginning because he used his summons to spy on us every single time we went on solo missions” Izuna had stopped all movement and he could only stare at his father who was calmly taking his sandals off.

“What?!” Izuna finally said, “But, why didn’t you say anything?” His father had sat close to the fireplace and started a fire with a quick Katon by the time Izuna finish talking. So he just smiled and turned his head to the general direction where Izuna was.

“I did not care what you did as long as you were safe or you weren’t doing anything that could put the clan in any danger” Izuna got closer to where his father and his brother were sitting.

“And befriending the son of your enemy was not putting the clan in danger?” Izuna asked, more curious than concerned.

“I heard the promised you did to each other, and as far as I know you two had never broken it, despite recent events” Izuna cleared his throat.

“Oh look how late it is,” Izuna said getting up, he did not know why but he really didn’t want to hear his father reprimand him for his latest actions. “I have to go make sure Tobirama is comfortable.”

“I don’t think so young man,” Tajima said and Madara, who had been quiet all that time snorted, “Come here,” he said patting the place next to him “we are going to talk about using that poor Senju as your executioner” Izuna made a resigned noise and started to take out his sandals.

“Tobi said the same thing” Izuna whispered to himself. However, Tajima heard it.

“I have the feeling that The Senju heir and I are going to get along quite well,” the father said to Madara who only snorted more.

* * *

That day at dawn every Uchiha that could be at the Plaza, was presented with a healthy and very alive Izuna and they listened to a very incredible, horrifying and unbelievable story:

“Uchihas, my brother is well and alive” Madara started saying “However, my brother’s injury and recovery had happened because of something that started years and years ago.” Every single Uchiha there looked confused. “When my brother was little, he got to know his Erabareshimono” a couple of surprised exclamations were heard “Amateratsu made their paths cross. However, they had the unfortunate fate of being from enemies clans. Because of this, my brother and his Erabareshimono kept their relationship a secret under the promise that neither of them would put the other one in a situation that would make them betray their own clan.” Madara could see the faces of agreement and respect for his little brother “However, recent discoveries had led my brother to believe that his Erabareshimono’s safety was no longer a priority in his clan; so he took matters into his own hands and formulated a very unwise plan to be able to make his Erabareshimono come to us without betraying his clan” He made a small paused to look at his brother who just smiled “Izuna acted alone and he did not confide all of this to me and the Elders Council until it was done” Madara needed to specify this just in case “So because he knew that his Erabareshimono would not stop to think if he was in grave danger, he trapped him inside of a genjutsu to make him believe he was not battling my brother and his Erabareshimono wound him mortally so when Izuna called him he would enter the Uchiha compound on his own volition to cure him” He made a small pause to let that information sink in their head. It took a little time, but at some point, he could hear gasps of horror and the name ‘White Demon’ and ‘Ghost? Could be heard between his fellow clan members “Let me tell you I was as surprised and scared as you when I was told this.” Madara continued “But yes, Senju Tobirama came two nights ago to the Uchiha compound and saved my brother's life. And not only that he had also agreed to collaborate with us so we can reach an agreement with the Senju so we can have a ceasefire during the winter” the surprised exclamation turned into ones of confusion and anger. “I agree with all of you and if the situation was different I would not trust the Senju Heir. However, on the last day and a half that Izuna and Senju Tobirama had been recovering from the battle, I had seen with my own eyes that my brother was speaking the truth. The Senju heir is truly my brother’s Erabareshimono.” He made a small paused to make sure that has sunk in everyone’s head “And I know how confused you might be. But this is the path that Amateratsu has forge for my brother and all of us. And if there is one thing I can be sure about is that Amaterasu has never left us and that all of her blessed unions had always been good for us.” That silenced almost all of them “So, Uchihas, I know that it would take time, and I know that it would be difficult, but I know that this is going to make things great for us in the future. So can I count on you?” After that Madara could hear a unanimous ‘YES’ before almost all the clan surrounded Izuna to bombarded him with questions. It was safe to say that there was no Uchiha alive that did not know Izuna's story before it turned dark.

* * *

Madara emerged from his office in the Council Building after almost three days of working none stop. He had been dealing with thousands of questions, complaints, and worries about the fact that Senju Tobirama was in the Uchiha compound. He had heard everything. From, ‘ _Uchiha-sama I respect your judgment but don’t you think that the White Demon might have trick Izuna-Sama? I just can’t believe this is the way of Amaterasu’_ to _‘If Senju-sama is really Izuna-sama Eraba how can he be treated as a prisoner, he should be free as Amateratsu says’_. On top of that, he had had to tolerate the Elder Council and the Common Council’opinions on how he should have written the letter to start the negotiations to the Senju Head. And even when that had been sent, they still had found some excused to occupy his time. It had not been until the third day since he announced the presence of the Senju in the compound that he had received the answering letter from Hashirama and the Councils had been properly satisfied to let him go.

For three days he had gone home just to bath and sleep, nothing more. Hikaku and other co-workers had made sure that he was properly fed; so he had spent the last three days without seeing his brother. Not even when he had arrived home at night. Which he suspected was because his brother had spent all of his “recovery” time with the Senju. He had spent so much time with him that he had started to suspect that he had brought his futon to the cell and had slept there. He had seen how strong an Eraba bond could be and he found it beautiful and terrifying; however, that did not mean he understood it. He had never had such a bond and he did not hope for it; he even preferred no to have it, because he feared the extend of the things he would do for such a thing. So, he was happy just seeing others suffering such a blessing. And even if it was not strange to find it in the Uchiha compound it was still quite unnerving and weird to see it on his brother. But it was not unpleasant, because he could feel how happy Izuna was with the presence of the Senju there. So even if it would take time to see the Senju around he was starting to like the idea.

However, let’s go back to the idea that he had felt his brother's happiness for the last three days. However, he had yet to see him. But he was leaving early that day, so he was hoping to be able to at least dine with him.

After he arrived home he did not see Izuna, but he could feel his chakra in the dungeons. So he went to take a long bath and put his personal affairs in order because he did not feel like interrupting his brother. And also, even if as Clan's head he should have gone down there to make sure that the “prisoner” was being treated fairly, he was sure nothing was bothering the albino. He could even bet that the dungeons were looking even homier than his own quarters. So he had not to worry about that aspect.

However, when at dinner time, one of the clan members that were “guarding” the dungeons came to collect Izuna and Tobirama’s dinner Madara decided that enough was enough. He took a tray and carry three full servings of the dinner to the dungeons. He may not want to disturb his brother but the little bastard had spent the last three days down there and he was not going to have dinner alone after all the work he had to get done because of Izuna's horrible scheming shenanigans.

When he arrived at the cell, Tobirama was reading out loud and Izuna was laying on his futon listening. Madara had to blink a couple of times because of how the cell looked like. He had been expecting his brother to go overboard and make the Senju comfortable, what he had not expected was the cell to be fully furnished, with tatamis, futons, wash space, a table and chairs.

“Aniki?” finally Izuna asked and Madara realized that he had been standing in the door without saying a thing and the other two persons in the room were watching him.

“Senju-sama” Madara said looking bravely at Tobirama who nodded accordingly and then he turned to his brother “After spending three days working because of a problem you have caused I refuse to dine alone,” He said closing the door behind him and setting the tray on the free space on the table.

“Are we eating here?” Izuna asked surprised getting up.

“Were you going to leave the dungeons?” Madara said and Tobirama snorted.

“But there are only two chairs Aniki,” Izuna said and Madara smiled.

“Guess who is going to the floor,” Madara said and Izuna glared at him knowing it would be him.

“I do not mind eating on the floor,” Tobirama said quietly and Madara turned to look at him before he said no with his head.

“Oh no, Senju-sama, we couldn’t after all you are our guest” Madara used a little sarcasm as he looked at Izuna and then at the room. Tobirama could not help but smile at the interaction. Izuna blushed a little.

“I only wanted to make sure Tobi was comfortable,” he said like he was a small child.

“You surely did,” Madara said sitting and starting on one of the chairs.

Tobirama sat on the other one and quickly put away all of the papers, scrolls, and books. After that Madra arranged the dinner and for the three and they started to eat quietly. However, the silence did not last long, even if Tobirama and the Clan Head were pretty ok with it.

“Sooooo… “Izuna started and Madara turned to look at his brother “how are they taking it? Did the idiot…?” Tobirama cleared his throat and Izuna glared at him for just an instant and the albino returned the glared just as fast “Did Hashirama write you back?”

“He actually did,” Madara said taking a small paper from his robes and giving it to Izuna. It took the Uchiha just a moment to read the reply

“Yay! We get to keep you!” Izuna said looking at Tobirama and the albino snorted.

“I doubt that is what the letter said,” Tobirama said.

“It’s very far from what it says,” Madara took the letter from Izuna's hands and put it back in his robes “However, he seemed open to negotiating. However, has demanded for you to be there” Tobirama snorted.

“You would have to forgive him. He can be impulsive” Tobirama said.

“Isn’t that normal?” Izuna asked, “I mean it is to make sure Tobi is ok, isn’t it?” Madara looked at his brother like he was an idiot. Didn’t Izuna remember a thing about the political lectures his father had given them?

“It is unpolite to do so” Tobirama started to explain not looking or sounding tired or like he thought that Izuna was stupid “when your enemy has a prisoner who is going to be used as some kind of bargaining chip; asking to bring the prisoner to the first meeting is the same as saying that you don’t plan to accept the negotiations and that you plan to ambush the retinue to get that person no matter what. It is polite to bring proof that the prisoner is alive and it is who you said it is but until an understanding had been reached it should not be asked to see the prisoner.”

“Oh, but when I accompanied the Damyio cousin to pay the ransom for his nephew the first thing he did was ask to see him,” Izuna said confused.

“That is because non-shinobi do it like that” Tobirama kept explaining to Izuna “However, we shinobis have the other protocol because it is easy to start a fight or trick the other. This way at the first part of the negotiations both parts bring the same to the table ad there are no other distractions” At the end of the explanation Madara could not help but to admit to himself that he was a little surprised by how good the explanation had been. It was still strange to see the White Demon talk calmly like that.

“That makes sense,” Izuna said and then he turned to his brother “What proof are you going to bring?” At that question, Madara turned to look at the albino.

“I was thinking about a short letter from Tobirama. I think he would be able to recognize the letter” Madara said and the albino nodded.

“And how are you planning to approach the negotiations?” Tobirama said and Madara looked at him funny.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was asking how and what you are going to ask for and what you are going to give in return,” Tobirama said “I was simply asking because I might be able to help.”

“Are you offering your help to your enemy’s clan to prepare the treaty?” Madara asked a little surprised.

“I’m offering some information to make the negotiations shorter and more efficient. I’m not planning to disclosure any pieces of information about the inner workings of my clan or what my brother’s weakness is so you can take advantage” Madara observed him for some time thinking about what the albino had said. He meditated on his options and in the end, he decided that he had nothing to lose. He at least would hear him.

“Ok, Senju,” Madara said “So I was thinking to start with…” and that was how Madara and Tobirama started to work together in the negotiations and Izuna saw his alone time with Tobirama dramatically reduced.

* * *

A week and a half later Tobirama was walking back to the Uchiha compound. The negotiations were finally over and the albino was officially a ward of the Uchihas. His security and safety were so crucial to the treaty that he was surprised if his brother would break it if someone looked at him the wrong way. But he would not need to know.

The Uchihas had brought him to the negotiations blindfolded that same day for the first time. And after the treaty had been signed his brother had been allowed to see him and talk to him. Hashirama, as always, had treated him with the constipated an awkward way of communicating with him that he had when he did not know what to say. Tobirama had assured him that he would be ok and had asked him to look for the clan and to make sure they had enough food and medical supplies for the winter.

It has not taken long for both parties to go back to their respective compounds. Tobirama had been blindfolded again and was being escorted by Izuna back to the Uchiha compound.

When they have finally arrived back and Izuna had taken the piece of cloth from his eyes at the doors of the compound instead that at the cell he was a little surprised. Izuna just smiled at him with such happiness that it surprised him, even if he was used to Izuna's happy moods.

Izuna then took his hand and pull him to follow him.

“Come on Tobi, let me show you the Compound, you are gonna love it” It was then that Tobirama could not help but smile and let himself be pulled around.

“I’m sure I will”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I did not show anything about the negotiations because I want them to be shown in the prologue of the second part. I already have an idea of how is going to be back it is still forming in my head.
> 
> Also, the names in Japanese are the result of me using google translate if you know the language and want to correct me please I would be very grateful.
> 
> So next week I have a very difficult exam I want to have all the time I can to study it so I'm going to start the second part of this story in two weeks. If everything is alright I would publish the prologue of the second part on the 7th of December. ^.^
> 
> I hope you liked it!
> 
> I would love to hear your comments! Even your general thoughts of this first part. Did you like it? What do you think of Tobirama and Izuna's friendship? or... do you like how I portrayed Tajima or Hikaku? Let me know in the comments I would love to read them
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	20. Next part of the series

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second part is here :)

❤️❤️❤️

Hi!!! Soo... I have just published the second part of this story.

The name is Madara's strategy so... you can guess a little bit what is going to happen. The prologue (which is what I have updated today) however is going to be completely centered in Hashirama...

I won't say anything more, I don't want to do any spoilers.

You just have to click on the bottom that says Next Work down there

Thank you so much for your support and I really hope that you like the next part.

❤️❤️❤️

**Author's Note:**

> Again, sorry about any grammar or spell mistakes.  
> Also, I would appreciate any comment if you would like to leave one.  
> Thanks for reading ^.^


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